W.Sudan rebels say air raids and militia kill 24

CAIRO, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Rebels from west Sudan said on Tuesday government-armed militias and warplanes had killed at least 24 people in the past four days, forcing civilians to flee to rebel camps and mountain caves in the arid Darfur region.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of two main rebel groups that launched a revolt in the Darfur area in February, said two Antonov planes had bombed two villages in Western Darfur state on Monday.

“Eighteen people were killed and 25 wounded. Two villages were destroyed and the civilians left the dead unburied and fled to the mountains,” JEM general coordinator Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur told Reuters by telephone.

Armed forces spokesman Mohammed Bashir Suleiman denied there had been any bombardment in the area, adding it was “stable and secure”.

Nur said the bombing happened in the Jabel Moon area near the Chadian border.

The other Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), had no information about the reported attack but said government forces often bombed the mountainous area.

Both groups said civilians had fled to their camps from a town in neighbouring Northern Darfur state.

Nur said those fleeing Kebkabiya reported government-armed militia fighters had looted the town’s market on Saturday and killed six people.

Privately-owned Sudanese newspaper al-Hayat quoted a member of Sudan’s parliament as saying seven people were killed when “tribesmen” raided Kebkabiya on Sunday.

Another privately-owned newspaper, Alwan, quoted governor of Northern Darfur state Osman Kebir as saying the attacks were carried out by “rebel gangs” who had been apprehended.

Rights group Amnesty International said the Darfur conflict had displaced more than 600,000 people and that a major cause of the troubles was injustice and marginalisation, reasons both rebel groups cite for their revolt.

Reports of attacks have escalated in the west, but are difficult to verify in the remote area.

Analysts say the Darfur conflict threatens a peace deal being negotiated in Kenya between the government and a separate rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), to end two decades of civil war in the south.

Kenya’s foreign minister said on Tuesday Khartoum and the SPLA had agreed in principle on how to share out the country’s wealth when the war ends.

The SLA signed a truce with Khartoum in September, but talks in Chad failed last week with both sides blaming each other. JEM has held no talks with Khartoum.