AU confirms renewed fighting in Darfur
Sept 3, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — African Union peacekeepers in Darfur confirmed US reports that fresh fighting had flared in the war-ravaged western Sudanese region.
“Reports reaching here from the African forces’ command in Darfur spoke of battles that have been going on since August 28 in Kukul, Sayah, Abusakeri and Gabr al-Kafud areas in North Darfur,” the AU mission’s spokesman Nureddin Mezni said.
Mezni said the AU contingent in the North Darfur town of Kutum was investigating the clashes and would submit a report to the AU ceasefire commission.
The Sudanese government has decided to ask the African Union to withdraw its forces from Darfur by the end of the month, saying it would take responsibility for security in the region, official media said late Sunday.
The decision was taken by the Council of Ministers at a meeting chaired by President Omar al-Beshir, the media said.
On Friday, the United States said it had received reports of renewed fighting in the Darfur region, amid warnings in recent weeks that government forces were preparing for a new offensive against rebel groups which refused to sign a May peace deal with the government.
“We are receiving preliminary reports of violence and attacks on villages in North Darfur,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
“We continue to call on all the parties, the government of Sudan, and non-signatories (to the peace agreement) to avoid further hostilities,” the official said.
The Washington Post reported that government aircraft had bombed villages in North Darfur suspected of supporting the rebels, and that thousands of government troops were headed for the region.
The umbrella group of rebel factions opposed to the peace deal, the National Redemption Front (NRF), said that government forces backed by aircraft were attacking villages in the Kukul area.
But armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Osman al-Aghbash insisted any movements of government troops were merely “administrative operations,” and strongly denied that the air force had bombed any villages.
“The rebel NRF has no right to accuse the armed forces of violating the ceasefire and has no right to control territories because it did not sign the Darfur peace agreement,” Aghbash said.
“What is taking place are ordinary administrative operations, but the rebels are interpreting them for their own purposes,” he said.
Khartoum signed the May peace deal with the mainstream faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, but a rival faction and the Justice and Equality Movement refused to sign up and instead formed the NRF.
The deal was intended to draw a line on the fighting between the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum and the ethnic minority rebels that has seen 300,000 people die and 2.4 million flee their homes over the past three and a half years.
(ST/AFP)