At least 4,000 flee militia attacks in western Sudan

DARFUR/NAIROBI, Jan 05, 2004 (dpa) — At least 4,000 people have fled militia attacks in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan, the United Nations’ news agency IRIN said Monday.

Throughout the weekend, and Monday, up to 3,000 families arrived in the town of Junaynah after their villages were burned and looted, a source on the ground told IRIN.

The displaced are reportedly sleeping in the open, without shelter.

This follows reports from the rebel group Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) that Sudanese government troops and allied militias attacked a major village called Sorra, with a population of about 500, in the Darfur region last Friday, killing 200 people.

“The village is completely destroyed now – it’s just smoke. The properties were looted. There’s nothing – there’s no life in the village,” Yagoub told Deutsche Presse Agentur, dpa.

The Sudanese embassy in Nairobi did not comment on Friday’s attack.

Bitter warfare has escalated in Darfur in recent months between the SLA, the Sudanese government, and Arab militias that many observers say are allied to the government.

Peace talks between the government and the SLA broke down last year. The Darfur conflict is not included in the Sudanese peace talks, currently being held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, between the government and another rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

A cease-fire signed between the SLA and the government last September also appears to have been violated.

In December alone, up to 30,000 people fled into neighbouring Chad. The United Nations Childrens agency, UNICEF, estimates that up to 750,000 people have been displaced from the Darfur region because of fighting.