Alleged militia attack on villages in Darfur, western Sudan

KHARTOUM, Nov 8 (AFP) — Armed Arab militias sacked and burned villages in Sudan’s West Darfur State in clashes with police that left two men killed on both sides, a press report said Saturday.

The independent Akhbar Al Youm daily quoted Zalinje district commissioner Mohamed Nihaidh Saleh as saying that numerous armed Janjaweed militiamen from North Darfur this week invaded and burned down six villages in the area.

The militiamen imposed taxes on people in markets and commercial trucks. They also attacked a police station, sparking clashes in which an attacker and a policeman were killed. Two raiders were arrested, the commissioner was quoted as saying.

The commissioner alleged that the Janjaweed were armed by the government to fight Darfur rebels, the newspaper said.

All markets in Zalinje were shut down, amid fears that the militia would “use the weapons to serve their tribal interests by carrying out arson and banditry operations,” the paper added.

Another recent report said that 17 persons had been killed and seven others injured in attacks by the Janjaweed militias on villages near Kas, northwest of Nyala in western Sudan.

Militias burned down 69 villages, displacing 12,000 people, Kas parliamentary deputy Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Lu-Lu told the Al-Ayam daily.

But the governor of South Darfur, General Adam Hamid Mussa denied the report.

Khartoum and West Darfur rebels agreed Tuesday to extend a ceasefire agreed in September for another 10 days while they pursue negotiations in neighboring Chad.

The extension would allow the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) to prepare annexes to a projected overall peace pact.

The government and the SLM resumed talks at Abeche in eastern Chad on October 26 in an attempt to stem a conflict that is estimated to have cost 3, 000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have streamed into Chad.

The rebels demand economic development of the semi-desert Darfur region, which lies near the Chad border.

However, each side has accused the other of violating the truce, which would amount to a first step toward ending a rebellion that erupted in February.