Sudan rebels retreat under government air attack

By Finbarr O’Reilly

EL FASHER, Sudan, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Sudanese rebels said on Wednesday they abandoned a town that has been the focus of heavy fighting this week in the violence-wracked Darfur region.

Villagers cheer Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels at Deribat, in the mountains of South Darfur, November 16, 2004. (Reuters).

The rebels abandoned the town of Tawilla in North Darfur state after two days of heavy fighting with government forces, a rebel spokesman said on Wednesday.

“Our troops are no longer in Tawilla, we are now back in our camps,” said Suleiman Mohammed Jamous, the humanitarian coordinator for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army.

Several weeks of skirmishes between Arab militias and African rebels around Tawilla in western Sudan’s troubled Darfur region erupted into heavy fighting when about 100 rebels stormed into the strategic transit town early on Monday.

The government launched a counter-attack on Tuesday and was still bombing positions south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on Wednesday, rebels and aid workers said.

“The government is now bombing one of our bases about 35 km (20 miles) southwest of El Fasher,” said Jamous, adding that his forces were ready to keep fighting despite a recent ceasefire agreement.

The United Nations has condemned the fresh fighting, which comes two weeks after both government and rebels signed peace protocols in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“We don’t care if the ceasefire collapses. We are ready to fight the government anywhere,” Jamous told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location in the desert.

Aid workers at Zam Zam nearby, a teeming camp for thousands of people displaced by violence, said they heard planes bombing south of El Fasher between 8 and 9 a.m. local time (0600 and 0700 GMT) on Wednesday.

“You could hear the explosions and see the smoke coming from the south. Everybody in the camp is very nervous,” said one aid worker, who asked not to be identified.

The fighting is the latest upsurge of violence in Darfur, where 22 months of conflict have driven some 1.6 million people from their homes, creating what the U.N. calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and the United States has labelled genocide.

Tawilla is an important trade and communications link to the remote west of Darfur, about 60 km (36 miles) west of El Fasher.

The government says that at least 30 policemen were killed in Monday’s rebel attack, but has so far denied any bombing.

It is unknown how many people have been killed or injured in the fighting.

A 700-strong African Union force has neither the mandate nor the capability to intervene to halt the violence that has engulfed Darfur, an area the size of France.

“We are monitoring the situation and waiting for things to calm down,” said on AU officer who did not want to be identified.

The conflict in Darfur started in February 2003 when two non-Arab rebel groups took up arms to fight for more power and resources.

Sudan’s government responded by backing the Arab Janjaweed militias, which are now accused of targeting civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.

Khartoum denies any wrongdoing, calling the Janjaweed bandits.

International agencies estimate that since March, disease, malnutrition and clashes among the displaced have killed more than 70,000 people in Darfur.