Darfur ex-rebels lose more men in new blow to peace deal
March 26, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Former Darfur rebels said on Monday a senior commander was killed in an ambush in the troubled Sudanese region at the weekend on the same day as a gunbattle claimed 11 lives, in a new blow to a peace deal.
“He was killed along with two escorts and a further two people are still missing,” the movement’s secretary general in South Darfur state, Omar Mohamed Ibrahim, told reporters.
Ibrahim said the attack took place near the state capital of Nyala but would not be drawn on whom he held responsible.
However SLM officials in Nyala said the attackers were members of the feared Janjaweed, a government-backed Arab militia accused of a spate of human rights abuses in Darfur since the ethnic minority rebels rose up in 2003.
The Darfur ambush came the same day as a gunbattle between SLM supporters and police in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman left 11 dead, including eight rebels and two police.
After that exchange, the former rebels already threatened to return to the bush to join continuing rebel factions in their campaign of violence against the Arab-led government.
“The attack by the police and security forces on the residence of our men was a violation of the ceasefire enshrined in the Abuja peace agreement which we have signed with the government,” SLM spokesman Tayeb Khamis told AFP.
“We are prepared to resume the war and from Khartoum, if the government wants to fight,” he added.
The clash was the first in the capital between the SLM and the government. It was also the worst violence in the metropolis since riots sparked by the death of southern former rebel leader John Garang in August 2005 killed more than 45 people.
According to Khamis, the incident broke out when SLM former rebels refused to hand over two of the group’s members who were wanted by the police regarding a “traffic problem” earlier in the week.
SLM leader Minni Minnawi charged that state agents had deliberately provoked the incident in what he said was “an attempt by the government to sabotage the peace process”.
“What happened reveals a will to move from peace to a state of war,” Minnawi told a news conference in Khartoum, where the SLM opened an office following the 2006 peace deal.
Minnawi, who was appointed presidential adviser under the accord, warned his movement would “only pursue peace if the findings of the investigative commission, whose members should be impartial, are taken into account.”
Interior Minister Zubeir Beshir Taha described the incidents as “regrettable” but insisted they would not affect the peace process.
However with a proliferation of rival rebel factions still continuing the armed struggle in Darfur, peacekeepers and UN agencies say the violence in the region has intensified since the peace accord was signed.
According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million displaced since the conflict erupted. Some sources say the death toll is much higher.
In the face of the worsening bloodshed, the Khartoum regime of President Omar al-Beshir faces mounting calls for UN sanctions.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Sunday for a new Security Council resolution against members of the Khartoum regime.
“The issue is, we need to get a new resolution to extend the sanctions regime against key individuals,” he said.
“The brutal action of the Sudanese government is completely unacceptable.”
(AFP)