Clashes between Darfur rebels leaves 20 dead: SMC

KHARTOUM, Nov 4 (AFP) — Clashes between the fighters of the two main rebel groups in the strife-torn Darfur region have left 20 dead and dozens injured, the Sudanese Media Center reported Thursday.

Members of the Sudan Liberation Army ( SLA) patrol around Dorsa village in west Darfur, October 10, 2004.

The Center, an information outlet affiliated with the government, said the fighting between rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement was prompted by a disagreement over command of forces.

It quoted Ismail Tour al-Jer, an SLM field commander, as saying hostilities erupted after he turned down a proposal to merge his forces with those of the JEM and place them under the command of a JEM officer.

He accused JEM, an Islamist-oriented group that the government has accused of having ties to jailed Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, of promoting the agenda of organizations that “are distant from the Darfur issue.”

Many supporters of Turabi, a one-time ally of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, are in jail awaiting trial on an array of charges, including fuelling the 21-month conflict in Darfur and plotting to overthrow the government.

Tens of thousands of people have died, an estimated 1.4 million displaced from their homes and some 200,000 forced into exile in the conflict that the United Nations says has instigated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.