Janjaweed militia kills 2 civilians in North Darfur capital
Dec 9, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Pro-government janjaweed militiamen killed a shopkeeper and a demonstrator Saturday in a northern Darfur city where the situation remained extremely tense after several days of violence, a U.N. official said.
At least 10 people have been killed in El Fasher since the janjaweed looted a market in the North Darfur state capital and clashed with former rebels on Monday.
The latest violence underscored the worsening situation in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes since fighting erupted in early 2003.
The government is accused of unleashing the janjaweed – Arab tribal fighters – to help counter the ethnic African rebels, and the militia are blamed for the worst atrocities against civilians during the conflict.
The United Nations has evacuated 135 staff members, diplomats and aid workers from El Fasher, and said it may pull out more of the remaining 200 if the situation worsens.
Large refugee camps are located on the outskirts of El Fasher, a city of more than 200,000 people that is a regional center for aid agencies, the African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur and the Sudanese army.
A U.N. official said the latest violence broke out Saturday when a janjaweed fighter stole a cell phone payment card. The shopkeeper resisted and was shot dead. Janjaweed then attacked demonstrators carrying his body to the residence of the regional governor and killed at least one person, the official said.
“The situation is extremely tense, there’s a lot of sporadic shooting,” the official said by telephone from El Fasher, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give statements to the media.
The Sudanese army was not immediately available for comment. Khartoum denies backing the janjaweed, but agreed to disarm the militia as part of a peace agreement it signed with a single Darfur rebel group in May.
Earlier this week, the faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement that signed the peace deal warned the government to stick to the agreement and disarm the janjaweed by the end of December.
Two SLM fighters were killed on Monday while trying to prevent the janjaweed from looting the market. The Sudanese army later confirmed two militiamen and a security official had also been killed in the clash. Three students were slain by the militia later in the week in separate incidents.
The U.N. official in El Fasher said rebel forces had agreed to withdraw from the immediate outskirts of the city but could be come back if more janjaweed violence took place.
SLM spokesman Saif Haroun the situation was “very, very bad” in the town on Saturday, and that up to 100 pickup trucks carrying militiamen were deployed in the city.
In Khartoum, the expelled head of the U.N. mission to Sudan was on a brief visit to hand over power to his deputy and collect his belongings. Jan Pronk was declared persona non grata by the government in October for writing on his personal Web log that the Sudanese army had lost two battles to the rebels and was mutinous.
On his latest blog entry, dated Nov. 27, Pronk accused the government of continuing to arm the janjaweed, bringing more of them into Darfur and backing their attacks on civilians that the U.N. says has killed hundreds in recent weeks.
The Sudanese president opposes a deal for some 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers to deploy jointly with the AU in Darfur.
On Saturday, the U.S. president’s special envoy for Sudan arrived in Khartoum to push for the government to accept the hybrid U.N. and AU force.
“The purpose of the visit is to talk with the Sudanese leadership about the issues of Darfur and the issues of the South,” Andrew Natsios told reporters upon arriving.
Natsios is due to visit southern Sudan and the western Darfur region before leaving for neighboring Chad on Thursday, the US embassy said.
(AP)