Darfur rebel SLA pledges to respect truce as state goes on alert

KHARTOUM, Nov 25 (AFP) — The head of one of the main rebel movements in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region said Thursday his group would fully respect a truce with Khartoum, countering statements by a spokesman declaring the deal null and void.

Sudan Liberation Army rebels gather for a meeting with AU ceasefire monitors at Gellab, a village in the desert east of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state on November 8, 2004. (Reuters).

“The SLM is committed to fully respecting the truce and all the agreements reached since the ceasefire,” Sudan Liberation Movement leader Abdel Wahid Mohamed al-Nur told AFP in Cairo.

Rebels signed a deal with the government in Khartoum to end hostilities last year, followed up by a security protocol signed in Abuja earlier this month after 21 months of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias.

“We say to humanitarian organisations that the SLM is ready to guarantee to them the security to continue working in Darfur,” Nur added.

Fighting began in February 2003 when rebels rose up against what they allege is the political and economic marginalisation of black Africans by the Arab-led government.

Khartoum’s response was to unleash the Arab Janjaweed, who have been blamed by Western officials and aid workers for killings, rape and widespread violations of human rights.

More than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the area, according to the United Nations, and another 1.5 million have been displaced.

On Wednesday, SLM London-based spokesman Mahjoub Hussein said the group considered truce deals signed with Khartoum null and void, warning that it would resume fighting and seek to oust the government.

“All the war now is starting again,” he said. “We are ready for everything.”

His comments prompted North Darfur state to go on “maximum alert,” according to a Sudanese newspaper, and raised concerns in Washington about renewed fighting.

Governor Osman Yusuf Kibir was quoted by the independent Akhbar Al-Youm as saying “state authorities have taken measures for maximum alert in defence of the people of the state.”

Each side in the conflict, which the United Nations says has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, has repeatedly accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

The United States has accused Khartoum of carrying out “genocide” through its proxy militias and on Wednesday demanded the immediate end to unrest in Darfur.

“The United States strongly condemns the escalating violence and continued ceasefire violations taking place in Darfur,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

“This fighting must stop immediately,” he said, branding the violence “a clear violation” of ceasefire and security deals.

“The latest incidents of violence were instigated by the Sudan Liberation Movement Army, and they have resulted in the suspension of humanitarian activities in the areas of fighting,” he said.

“This has caused increased suffering to the civilian population, and our message to the Sudan Liberation Movement Army is clear. The international community expects that all violence stop and agreements reached be honored.”

Ereli urged all parties in Sudan to cooperate with the 3,000-strong African Union force deployed in Darfur to monitor the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross is due in Khartoum on Thursday for talks on the conflict before a visit to see the situation in the region at first hand.