42 killed in Sudan unrest

KHARTOUM, Nov. 07, 2003 (dpa) — Some 42 people were killed in an attack carried out by an armed group in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the independent daily newspaper Alwan reported Saturday.

The paper cited local officials as saying the attackers set 32 villages ablaze and destroyed 32,000 hectares of farmland in and around the province of Zalengi.

Some 60,000 people have been displaced by the unrest in the region where pro-government militias have been accused of committing massacres among the civilian population.

In September, the president of neighbouring Chad, Idris Deby, successfully brokered a ceasefire agreement between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in Darfur.

The Sudanese government and SLM rebels agreed Wednesday to a one- month extension of their ceasefire in the region.