Sudan frees 33 western rebels under amnesty
KHARTOUM, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The Sudanese government has released 33 rebels in the western region of Darfur as part of an amnesty, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said on Thursday. Khartoum offered the one-month amnesty earlier this week to those taking part in a year-old uprising and said it had regained full control of the situation in Darfur.
But the rebels say they still control parts of the area, and one rebel leader said on Wednesday that a combined operation had cut key communications routes between government-held towns in the region. Tension between African farmers and Arab nomads over water and grazing land in the poor, arid region erupted into violence a year ago, when rebels accused the government of favouring the Arabs and marginalising the area.
“Thirty-three detainees who had participated in the rebel incidents were released yesterday in al-Fashir,” SUNA reported. Al-Fashir is about 800 km (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum. The government has not said how many rebels it has captured.
The United Nations has said fighting in Darfur has displaced some 700,000 people and forced tens of thousands more into Chad.
It said earlier this week that aid agencies’ access to the region had improved, having previously said the security situation and government unwillingness to issue travel permits had hindered distribution.
Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted earlier this week as saying the government had opened up 10 new aid corridors in Darfur.
A statement released by the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi and obtained by Reuters on Thursday said the government would open “aid corridors” for foreign and local aid organisations from February 16.
“They include areas in Darfur…which were not accessible to reach before, due to insecurity caused by outlaws,” the statement said. It gave no further details.
It was not clear if the aid corridors to be opened next week included those mentioned by Ismail.
As fighting has surged in the arid west, the government has been holding talks with a separate rebel group to end a 20-year-old civil war in the south of Africa’s largest country.