Rebels say govt forces, planes attack in west Sudan

CAIRO, June 9 (Reuters) – A rebel group in the west of Sudan said on Wednesday that Arab militia, or janjaweed, backed by government troops and aircraft had attacked its forces near the border with Chad in the latest violation of a ceasefire deal.

Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, an official from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told Reuters that rebels had killed 36 janjaweed and government troops, while one rebel died.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment, although both sides have accused the other of violating the truce reached in April between Khartoum and the two main rebel groups to halt the conflict in the Darfur region.

Independent verification is hard to obtain in the remote region where rebels took up arms in February 2003, calling for a fairer share of the oil-producing country’s resources and power.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) and the day before yesterday, the government troops were helping the Janjaweed attack our area in western Darfur,” Nur said by satellite phone from Darfur.

During the attack, he said an Antonov plane and two helicopters bombed the area around Kiro, about 30 km (20 miles) north of town of Geneina which is close to the border with Chad.

“We have signed a ceasefire agreement with the government and they are violating the ceasefire,” he said.

Rebels accuse the government of arming the Arab janjaweed to loot and burn African villages, a charge Khartoum dismisses.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that fighting in Darfur threatened Sudan’s peace moves in the 21-year-old conflict in the south of Africa’s largest country.

The government and southern rebels signed several protocols in June as a prelude to a comprehensive peace deal.

The United Nations says fighting in the west has affected two million people and driven 158,000 refugees across the border into Chad, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.