Sudan launches Darfur relief operation amid army offensive

KHARTOUM, Jan 24 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has launched a large-scale relief operation in the western Darfur region, where a fierce army campaign against rebels has created a refugee problem, television reported.

The report showed a convoy of 26 trucks loaded with 100 million dinars (about 400,000 dollars) worth of food and medicine preparing to leave the capital Khartoum for the region.

It also showed about 20 train cars loaded with supplies including tents, blankets and clothes heading out.

A cargo plane also flew out of Khartoum airport with foods and medicine donated by Khartoum businessmen and companies, the television said.

President Omar al-Beshir was on hand with other senior government officials at the railway station to see the start of the relief operation, it said.

Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid also said at the scene that another train loaded with relief supplies had departed from Kosti, south of Khartoum, and that more trains would follow.

Around 15,000 refugees from western Sudan have poured into neighbouring Chad in the past week amid the fighting, the UN refugee agency said Friday, citing figures given by Chad.

The new influx of refugees brings to around 110,000 the number of people who have fled to Chad from Darfur since rebels there rose up against the government in Khartoum nearly one year ago, it said.

Witnesses quoted by the UNHCR have said the latest exodus from Darfur has coincided with an attack by the Sudanese army on a group of villages near the border town of Koulbouss.

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) launched a rebellion in February last year to protest against alleged government neglect of the semi-desert region. The rebellion has cost some 3,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

The government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) appear close to reaching a final agreement to end the country’s main conflict, which erupted in 1983 and is the longest-running on the African continent.

It has pitted the south, where most observe traditional African religions and Christianity, against the Muslim, Arabized north and claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced an estimated four million people.