Sudan accuses rebels in Darfur of attacking Krakawi

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Mar 29, 2005 (PANA) — Sudanese authorities have accused a camel riding group of launching a farce armed attack against Krakawi town, 90 km west of Kotom in the civil strife torn Western Darfur region.

A Rwandan African Union soldier patrols at Abushouk camp near El Fasher in North Darfur, Nov. 3. (Reuters).

The government-owned Sudan Media Centre quoted Tuesday a reliable source as saying the “attackers set the houses in the town on fire and captured a female teacher but were forced to release her after being chased by
government troops”.

According to the SMC, the estimated 20 assailants armed with Kalashnikov staged the attack on abut 2,000 metres from a camp occupied by African Union monitors.

Meanwhile, dailies in Khartoum on Tuesday widely covered a statement by the Sudanese Justice Minister Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin that he government had detained at least 14 people, including government
soldiers, on suspicion of committing crimes, including rape and murder in
the Darfur region.

For several weeks, the UN Security Council has been trying to iron out
differences among its members over a French draft resolution to refer
alleged war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at
the Hague.

A UN panel of inquiry has already prepared the secreta list of suspects
from Darfur and handed it to UN secretary general Kofi Annan so that they
can face war crimes charges at the ICC.

“Fourteen people, most of them officers in the mainstream forces — army,
security or police — have been arrested in South Darfur state,” the
minister is quoted as saying.

Yassin said that most of the detainees are accused of rape, arson and
other crimes “and will go on trial very soon.”

Khartoum has vehemently opposed the French draft resolution, insisting
that as a sovereign state, Sudan has the right and capacity to prosecute
prople who committed offences in Darfur region.

The conflict in Darfur broke out in early 2003 when the rebel Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Equality and Justice Movement (JEM)
took up arms to press for an equal allocation of wealth to their remote
region.

The UN and human rights groups have accused Khartoum of arming and
supporting militiamen called the “Janjaweed” to crush the rebellion. They
have also accused government forces of bombing villages suspected to be
harbouring rebels.

About 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the beginning
of the conflict in February 2003. Fighting has also displaced more than
1.6 million others internally and pushed nearly 200,000 refugees in
neighbouring Chad.