IDPs report continuing killings by gunmen in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Mar 2, 2005 (IRIN) — At least 16 people have been killed by
unidentified gunmen in South Darfur state amidst reports of continuing
violence in western Sudan, UN officials told IRIN in the capital, Khartoum.

A 14- year-old Sudanese girl holds her wounded baby brother, hit by shrapnel from an aerial attack in North Darfur, October 2004. Their mother was killed in the bombing attack. (HRW)..

“A number of IDPs [internally displaced persons] reported that in an
attack in Thur, 20 km north of the town of Kas in South Darfur,
approximately 16 people were killed on 23 February,” Leon Willems,
spokesperson for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), said on
Wednesday.

Those killed, Willems added, were apparently attacked while on their way
to tend to their land in nearby place called Salakoyo.

“The AU is aware of these reports and investigations are ongoing,”
Nourreddine Mezni, a spokesperson for the African Union (AU) in Khartoum,
told IRIN.

Reports of more armed clashes and other ceasefire violations in Darfur had
continued to be received even as the AU was attempting to bring the
warring parties back to the negotiation table, the officials said.

During the weekend of 26 and 27 February, a number of incidents were
reported, including an attack by tribal militias on a village called
Aduana, in South Darfur.

The monitoring team of the AU, which investigated the report, established
that two villagers were killed and two others injured. The attackers fled
after looting livestock.

In North Darfur, armed clashes were reported between militias and rebel
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) forces on 26 February, in an area
located 50 km west of the capital, El Fasher. Unconfirmed reports
indicated that the groups attacked two SLM/A soldiers, one of whom was
reportedly killed and one injured.

The AU spokesperson said a delegation from the pan-African organisation’s
mediation team had been in consultation with the Sudanese parties on the
best way to resume talks and achieve a political solution to the Darfur
conflict.

The delegation, led by Ambassador Sam Ibok, held a series of meetings with
government officials in February in Khartoum, followed by similar
consultations with leaders of the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the
SLM/A and the Justice and Equality Movement.

“The objective of this round of consultations is to find a solution to
rapidly resume the Abuja peace talks and to consolidate a durable
ceasefire,” Mezni said.

At the end of the consultations, a draft framework protocol on the
resolution of the Darfur conflict would be prepared in light of the
positions expressed by the parties.

On Sunday, the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia and representative at the
AU, Abu-Zaid Al-Hassan, said his government was committed to maintaining
its coordination with relevant parties to make the AU mission in Darfur a
success.

The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly
allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have
called marginalisation and discrimination of the region’s inhabitants by
the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85
million internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad.