Darfur rebels accuse Sudan militias of attacking 24 villages

LIBREVILLE, Aug 2 (AFP) — Pro-government militias in Sudan have attacked 24 villages and killed at least 13 people in the country’s Darfur region in recent days, a rebel movement in Darfur said Monday.

“On Friday … a group of Janjaweed attacked four villages 60 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Nyaya,” the capital of South Darfur province, Colonel Abdallah Abdel Kerim told AFP in Libreville by telephone.

“The ceasefire commission has been able to verify (the attack) in the first village, Baraka, where the Janjaweed killed 13 people and took cattle and cereals,” Abdul Kerim added, saying he had no details regarding the three other villages.

The rebel spokesman was referring to a commission set up by the rival sides in Darfur and including Chadian mediators and members of the international community under a peace accord signed for the region in April. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating it.

On Saturday, “more than 4,000 Janjaweed, based 70 kilometres from Guileina (the capital of West Darfur) sent a group to burn 20 villages between Terty and Doukhoune”, Abdel Kerim said, adding that these villages had already been abandoned by their inhabitants.

On Friday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution giving the Khartoum government 30 days to bring under control the situation in Darfur region, where it has been accused of arming and backing the Janjaweed in a campaign to exterminate the black non-Arab African population.

The conflict, described by UN agencies as the trigger for the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis, has claimed up to 50,000 lives and driven more than a million people from their homes. Tens of thousands have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad.