Gunmen kill 20 in Darfur village – military
February 28, 2008 (KHARTOUM ) — Unidentified gunmen have attacked a village in Darfur, killing about 20 civilians, a spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces said on Thursday.
A Darfur rebel group blamed pro-government militiamen for the dawn raid on Wednesday against the village of al-Sunta in southern Darfur.
“The militias of the regime attacked an area in southern Darfur. They assassinated about 25 people, all civilians,” said Al-Hadi al-Tijani, who identified himself as a spokesman of a rebel coalition called the New Sudan Brigade.
The armed forces’ spokesman denied government involvement.
“It was a tribal clash, the armed forces had nothing to do with it,” the spokesman said.
“It is a criminal case. Police are chasing the attackers and they have not yet identified which tribe did it.”
Among the dead were the mayor of the village and a prayer leader, he said.
Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, said: “We have a report about a tribal clash in the area.” He had no further details.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the central government, accusing it of neglecting the region.
The government mobilized mainly Arab militias to quell the revolt. The United States calls the violence a genocide. Sudan rejects this and says only 9,000 people have lost their lives.
Sudan has accepted the deployment of a 26,000-strong AU-U.N. force to stabilize the region. Only 9,000 troops are on the ground in the vast, arid region.
Western powers accuse the Sudanese government of using conditions such as the composition of the force as delaying tactics. Khartoum has so far rejected the notion of accepting non-African troops until all African soldiers have deployed to Darfur.
(Reuters)