103 Sudanese soldiers flee rebel attack to Chad

Oct 10 2006 (N’DJEMENA) — More than a hundred Sudanese soldiers fleeing a rebel attack in western Darfur took refuge in neighboring Chad over the weekend, the government of Chad said Tuesday.

“Following clashes … pitting Sudanese rebels against Sudanese government forces on Sudanese territory, 103 Sudanese soldiers –including three officers — crossed the border to take refuge in Chad,” the government said in statement.

Six wounded soldiers “were taken into the care of Chadian authorities and treated in Bahai,” in eastern Chad along the Sudanese border. “The 97 others were taken to Iriba,” another town in eastern Chad, the statement said.

The government said it was still deciding what to do about returning the soldiers to Sudan.

“Chad is thus not in any way involved with these clashes … which took place on Sudanese territory,” itsaid, adding that Chad’s actions were of a purely humanitarian nature.

Heavy fighting in the region over the weekend — including Sudanese air and heavy artillery attacks against rebel positions — left at least 80 people injured, a source in a humanitarian agency said earlier.

The rebels belong to the Justice and Equality Movement, still active after it refused to join other factions in signing an agreement with the Sudanese government in May to bring peace to the province.

War broke out in Darfur in February 2003 between local rebels and pro-government militia. At least 200,000 people have died there from the combined effects of fighting, famine and disease, according to the UN.

Despite these mainly civilian deaths and the displacement of more than two million people, Khartoum continues to reject a proposal to deploy UN peacekeepers to Darfur to shore up the fragile peace accord.

(ST/AFP)