Region | Sudan
Rebel faction accuses Sudan of bombing Darfur during Al Bashir peace tour
A Darfur rebel faction that has a pact with Sudan's government accused the army on Friday of bombing a village this week even while President Omar Hassan Al Bashir was in the region making a call for peace.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:41 July 25, 2008
Khartoum: A Darfur rebel faction that has a pact with Sudan's government accused the army on Friday of bombing a village this week even while President Omar Hassan Al Bashir was in the region making a call for peace.
Tension has grown in Darfur since the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on July 14 he would seek an arrest warrant for Al Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Al Bashir has led a diplomatic campaign to prevent any indictment and called for peace during a visit to Darfur this week, but Minni Arcua Minnawi's Sudan Liberation Movement said Sudanese planes had bombed a village while he was there.
The rebel faction, the only one to sign a 2006 peace accord, said attacks occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday. It said one village was attacked on Wednesday while Al Bashir was addressing cheering crowds in the nearby city of Al Fasher.
Denial
"Government planes were bombing the village Karbala 40km south of Al Fasher," SLM military spokesman Mohammad Dirbeen said yesterday. "The bombing killed three people and injured eight."
The army was not available for comment yesterday, the Muslim day of rest. But the army regularly denies reports of bombing, which are difficult to confirm in the vast region the size of France.
A joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) confirmed reports of daily bombing in the past four or five days but could not give further details.
"We do not have forces in those areas," said spokesman George Ola-Davies.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in 2003, accusing central government of neglect. International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes.
Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militia to quell the revolt. Those militia are accused of widespread rape, murder and looting.
Dirbeen said the bombed village of Karbala was in an area controlled by the forces of Minnawi, who has said Al Bashir lacks the political will to implement their 2006 peace deal.
Following the deal Minnawi became a presidential assistant but he left his office in the presidential palace months ago to return to Darfur, where he is in touch with other rebel groups.
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