Sudan govt unleashes offensive in South Darfur: SLA rebels

CAIRO, Dec 17 (AFP) — One of the two main rebel groups in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region said that the government had launched an offensive on rebel-held towns in southern Darfur, denouncing it as a truce violation.

A Sudan Liberation Army rebel in the town of Deribat in the Jebel Marra mountains of South Darfur. (Reuters).

Mahjoub Hussein, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement told AFP from Abuja that government military aircraft had bombed the towns of Adwa and Labdo in South Darfur state in the morning.

There were many civilian casualties, he said, although he could not provide a precise figure as the fighting was ongoing.

“We strongly condemn the Sudanese government’s policy of extermination,” said Hussein from the Abuja venue of African Union-mediated negotiations between Khartoum and the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement.

Hussein said that the offensive could threaten negotiations and warned the government of “serious consequences” if it does not halt the operations immediately.

Earlier, rebels walked out of the talks, accusing the government of pressing ahead with an offensive in the region, but they returned to the negotiating table after Khartoum agreed to cease its operations.

The commander of the African Union observer force in Darfur said Friday that the Sudanese government appeared to be preparing further military action despite promises to respect a truce signed in April.

“One thing that must be said today is that the situation in Darfur has become more dangerous with the build-up of forces in the last two weeks… The present situation in Darfur is therefore that of a timebomb which could explode at any moment,” General Festus Okonkwo said.

Briefing delegates and international observers at stalled peace talks in Abuja, Okonkwo recommended that the Khartoum government be pressed to withdraw its newly deployed forces from Darfur and called on the region’s rebel movements to remove roadblocks and halt their looting raids.

“The quantity of arms and ammunition brought into Darfur to meet the present build-up of troops in the region is so astronomical that the issue is no longer whether there will be fighting or not, but when the fighting will start,” he said in a report released to the media.

Darfur has been at war since the rebels launched their insurrection in February last year, seeking greater autonomy for the region, but the sides have in theory been observing a ceasefire since April when they signed a truce.

Khartoum-linked militias have been blamed for a campaign of ethnic cleansing including murder, rape and pillage. Tens of thousands of people have died, many of hunger and disease, and another 1.5 million people are believed to have been driven from their homes.