Sudan official confirms attacks on Darfur civilians

KHARTOUM, Aug 16 (AFP) — A Sudanese official has confirmed that civilians in North Darfur state were executed by militiamen acting in the name of the government, a newspaper reported Saturday.

North Darfur governor Yusuf Kibir blamed the attacks against people living in Kuttum, the state’s second largest town, on “a misled and unrestrained group claiming to support the government,” quoted Khartoum’s independent daily Al Rai Al Aam.

He branded the militiamen “outlaws” and refused to acknowledge any government responsibility for their acts.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) on Monday accused pro-government militias of killing some 300 civilians in Kuttum on August 5, and of destroying and burning houses and shops.

Kibir did not confirm the SLM toll, but said a committee chaired by a judge will be set up to investigate what happened between August 5 and 7, after the rebels evacuated the town.

The SLM announced on August 5 it had withdrew its forces from Kuttum “voluntarily” in order to spare its inhabitants a government assault to recapture the town, seized by the rebels on August 1.

The governor called on those people who fled Kuttum to return to the town, assuring them that regular forces were deployed to provide them with “shelter, food and treatment.”

The SLM began life as the Darfur Liberation Movement in August 2001 before re-emerging under its current name last February when it began claiming responsibility for a series of anti-government attacks.