Aid group evacuates Darfur rebel town after militia attack
October 10, 2007 (JUBA, Sudan) — The sole international aid group in an embattled Darfur rebel town where unconfirmed reports say a militia attack has killed dozens is pulling out due to the pervasive insecurity, the regional director said Wednesday.
Medecins sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it counted at least 39 severely injured people, mostly civilians, in the town of Muhajeria before it had to evacuate, adding that it could not confirm rebel statements that more than 48 people had been killed.
«There were casualties reported to us, but we couldn’t verify them,» said Banu Altanbas, the head of MSF-Holland for South Darfur. She said the town was too insecure to fully inspect, and that most civilians had taken refuge in its northern part, close to a small base of African Union peacekeepers who were also treating some of the wounded.
The AU said it had send an inspection team to the town Wednesday, but could not yet confirm casualty tolls.
Rebels say the army and its janjaweed militia allies of nomadic Arabs mounted the assault Monday, killing dozens, including ethnic African tribal leaders who were pulled out of a mosque and executed. The assailants went on to burn down half the town, they added.
Altanbas could only confirm that there had been «heavy damage» and that the area around the market place had been looted.
«Our hospital was completely empty, people have fled for fear of their lives,» she told The Associated Press by telephone from Nyala, South Darfur’s state capital.
She said all 16 MSF-Holland staff had evacuated Muhajeria by Wednesday. The U.N. has also advised nonessential staff from aid groups and U.N. agencies to temporarily leave Nyala because of increased insecurity there as well. But MSF said it was staying, and would try to return to Muhajeria, some 60 kilometers to the east, as soon as possible.
A U.N. observer in Darfur said the assault on Monday was led by Mahalya Arab tribesmen, but could not comment on whether they had been sent by the government or attacked on their own accord.
The Sudanese army, for its part, denied it was involved in the clash, describing the clashes as inter-tribal battles. It also denied rebel reports of aerial bombings.
Officials from the 7,000-strong AU peacekeeping mission currently in Darfur said aircraft were definitely were circling above Muhajeria during the attack, but couldn’t confirm whether they dropped any explosives.
Sudan’s military spokesman, Brig. Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash, said in a statement the planes were conducting a reconnaissance operation approved by the AU.
Several U.N. resolutions ban military flights over the region, and the military denies it conducts aerial bombings. But the government is the only warring party in Darfur with aircraft, and many villages in the rebel zones are scarred by bomb craters.
The AU mission will be replaced on Jan. 1st by a 26,000-strong hybrid force of U.N. and AU peacekepers.
The attack on Muhajeria is the latest threat to comprehensive peace talks later this month in Libya, especially because the town was controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement, the only rebel group that has agreed to a peace with Khartoum.
The attack came after the nearby town of Haskanita was burned to the ground after coming under government control last week in the wake of a rebel raid on the nearby AU base that killed 10 peacekeepers.
The SLM’s leadership says it is meeting to decide how to react to the aggression. Other rebel factions have voiced rising skepticism at Khartoum’s sincerity to conduct peace talks, and are warning that the army is massing in northern Darfur along the Chad border for another possible offensive there.
Rebels say the area around the town of Muhajeria is home to 160,000 people. The U.N. mission to Sudan says it doesn’t know, because the area has largely been a no-go zone for months, but aid workers put the figure closer to 20,000 and 30,000.
In recent months, however, the area has seen a large influx of refugees fleeing attacks from government and militia forces.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million fled their homes, mostly ethnic Africans, since rebels from Darfur’s black majority took arms against the Arab-dominated central government in 2003, accusing it of neglect and discrimination.
(AP)