WFP suspends Darfur food aid after deadly clashes blamed on rebels

KHARTOUM, Dec 29 (AFP) — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it has suspended food aid to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region following a rebel attack on a market town that triggered deadly clashes with government forces.

A displaced Sudanese man guards humanitarian aid from the World Food Program at Kalma refugee camp near Nyala town in Sudan’s south Darfur region. (AFP).

The government claimed Wednesday that rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement were responsible for attacks Monday on Ghibaish and Al-Majrour towns in central Sudan outside Darfur that led to clashes in which 99 people died.

In a statement received Wednesday, the WFP said it had halted three convoys of trucks carrying more than 1,300 tonnes of food because of the attack.

“This latest insecurity has serious consequences for the United Nations and non-governmental organizations’ operations in Darfur, as it effectively blocks overland access from central Sudan to the Darfur region,” the WFP said.

“This has a particular impact on WFP’s provision of life-saving food aid, as it must rely heavily on road deliveries to support its Darfur humanitarian operation.”

The statement also said the United Nations is concerned about reports that Darfur rebels have stolen 13 trucks leased to WFP and loaded with urgently needed food.

“More alarming are reports that the rebel group that stole them may now using some of these trucks for military purposes.”

Sudan’s government said a total of 99 people had been killed in clashes after the attack on Ghibaish in West Kordofan state and in fighting between rebels and government forces in other areas since Monday.

Sudanese State Interior Minister Ahmed Mohammed Haroun said the attackers were “affiliated to the rebel SLM of Darfur”.

He said Kordofan was not covered by the April ceasefire agreement between the government and rebels in Darfur but that “the government is committed not to move the war to that region.”

Jan Pronk, the special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said “the problems of Darfur cannot be solved through military means. The parties to the conflict have to live up to their commitments, including their responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of their own people and their unhindered access to humanitarian assistance”.

Rebels in Darfur, a vast western desert region the size of France, rose up against the Sudanese government in February 2003.

The government retaliated with the help of proxy militias which have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign that Washington has called a genocide. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.5 million left homeless.

In Tripoli, meanwhile, a rebel official announced that Libya will host a forum on the Darfur conflict that is expected to include representatives of both rebels and the Khartoum government.

The announcement comes shortly after negotiations between Khartoum and rebels in Nigeria, aimed at ending the conflict, were suspended until January.

The African Union-sponsored talks have made no progress towards a lasting political settlement after the Sudan government and its allied Janjaweed militia launched a military offensive in breach of a ceasefire.