Chad detains 30 Darfur rebels from SLA

BECHE, Chad, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Chadian authorities said on Thursday they had detained rebels from western Sudan and would hand them over to the international Red Cross despite pressure from Khartoum to turn them over to Sudanese authorities.

Governor of Abeche Haroun Salih told Reuters 30 armed rebels from the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), one of two main rebel groups fighting the government in the arid Darfur region, had been detained in the border town of Adre.

It was not clear what the rebels were doing in Chad or when they were captured. SLA officials were not immediately available for a comment.

“There is intense pressure from the Sudanese government to hand them over,” Salih said. “We have been in contact with the Red Cross and are going to hand them (the rebels) over to them.”

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said last week the government had regained full control of Darfur after it defeated the rebels. But rebels say they still control parts of the area.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Chad Lorenzo Caraffi confirmed Chadian authorities had contacted them concerning the detained rebels, but declined to make any further comment.

The SLA, which has been fighting the government for a year, accuses Khartoum of excluding Darfur from development and state power.

The U.N. says about 110,000 Sudanese refugees have entered neighbouring Chad from Sudan to flee the fighting between rebels and the government.