AU says Sudan begins troop withdrawal from Darfur

ABUJA, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The African Union said on Saturday Sudan had started withdrawing troops in Darfur ahead of an evening deadline to end fighting there, but Khartoum said the pullout was conditional on the rebels halting attacks.

Sudanese national policemen leave the Governor compound in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan. (AFP)

“The government instructed its military commanders yesterday to end the campaign and withdraw troops to their former positions,” spokesman Assane Ba told Reuters.

“General Okonkwo (AU commander in Darfur) has confirmed that troops withdrawal by the government was already under way, and we will meet later today to review the situation on the ground.”

Darfur rebels denied Sudan was pulling back its troops.

Officials at AU-sponsored peace talks in Nigeria gave the two sides a 24-hour ultimatum on Friday to end cease-fire breaches after a massive military build-up in Sudan’s western Darfur region over the last two weeks.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said in Khartoum the government was setting conditions for compliance with the deadline.

He told reporters the rebels must withdraw from areas they have entered since an April cease-fire and must refrain from attacks on relief organizations, civilians and their property, and property of the state.

Sudanese forces will never withdraw from Darfur as a whole because a U.N. Security Council resolution gives the government responsibility for maintaining security there, he added.

A Reuters reporter saw an Antonov plane land in Nyala airport, South Darfur, late on Saturday afternoon and dozens of troops descended. It was not clear whether they were arriving in the region or had been pulled out from other parts of Darfur.

FIGHTING

General Festus Okonkwo, the Nigerian head of an AU team of 834 cease-fire monitors, said on Friday his efforts to mediate between government and rebels had yielded minimal results and Darfur was now a “timed bomb that could explode at any moment.”

The conflict has already displaced 1.6 million people and killed tens of thousands in the vast, arid region.

The rebels suspended the peace talks in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Monday to protest against Khartoum’s offensive.

Ba said they would resume if the cease-fire commission led by Okonkwo confirmed later on Saturday that the security situation had improved.

He said Khartoum had complained the withdrawal was being slowed by rebel attacks on the retreating troops.

The head of military police in South Darfur said on Saturday that fighting had continued in the region into Friday night after rebel attacks which inflicted heavy losses on the Sudanese army.

The deadline for ending the violence expires at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT). The AU said on Friday it would report any further cease-fire breaches to the U.N. Security Council.

The United States, Britain and the United Nations also weighed in with warnings to both sides.

Darfur rebels took up arms in early 2003 after years of tribal skirmishes over scarce resources in the remote region.

They accuse Khartoum of neglect and of using so-called Janjaweed Arab militias to loot and burn non-Arab villages. Khartoum denies arming the Janjaweed and calls them outlaws.

The United Nations has said Darfur, an area the size of France, is suffering from one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises with 2.3 million people in need of aid.