Darfur rebels say they opened new front

CAIRO, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Rebels in western Sudan said on Monday they had opened a new front in the southwest of the Darfur region in the last three days, capturing two government army garrisons and killing large numbers of troops.

There was no independent corroboration of the report by the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), which has been fighting the government in the region for the past year.

SLA Chairman Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur told Reuters by satellite telephone from Darfur that SLA forces on Monday morning seized the army garrison in Arbeba, south of the West Darfur state capital Geneina.

“We destroyed a government military unit, seized all of its equipment and killed 200 of the government troops,” he said.

“This represents the opening of a new front for the Sudan Liberation Army, which can attack the army whenever and wherever it wants. This shows the extent of the falsity of government claims that it has wiped out the SLA,” the chairman added.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said last week that the government had regained full control of Darfur, a vast region bordering Chad. The rebels disputed his claim.

Nur said SLA forces on Saturday took control of the garrison town of Mukjar, southwest of the South Darfur state capital Nyala, killing 120 of the government soldiers there.

The SLA and another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, have repeatedly given very large numbers for government casualties in the fighting.

They say they are fighting to redress an imbalance in the use of central government resources.