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Darfur rebels accuse Sudan of fresh attacks
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Sep 13, 2008 - 6:35:41 AM

Darfur rebels accuse Sudan of fresh attacks

3 hours ago

KHARTOUM (AFP) — Rebels accused the Sudanese government on Saturday of launching attacks in a mountainous area of south Darfur.

"The attack began on Friday with the government army and Janjaweed militias, and it is continuing now," said Salah Bob, a field commander from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction led by exiled commander Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.

Speaking by satellite telephone, Bob said he was in the village of Hazanat-Tungur in the eastern Jebel Marra mountains, a rebel stronghold now on the frontline.

"There are also aeroplanes that are bombing," he said, adding that casualty figures were impossible to gather until the fighting ended.

There were reports last week of government offensives in other parts of Darfur, including the north.

However, a Sudanese army spokesman insisted that the only military action under way was against bandits responsible for a spate of attacks on aid convoys.

"The Sudanese armed forces have conquered two sites from bandits who have been hijacking aid trucks," said army spokesman Osman al-Aghbash.

"We will continue to fight against the hijackers so as to secure the roads for humanitarian aid... This work will continue across all the three states in Darfur," he said.

Growing insecurity in Darfur has undercut the ability of aid agencies to deliver critical supplies.

More than 100 vehicles carrying aid from the World Food Programme have been hijacked in Darfur this year, with 43 drivers and 63 trucks still missing. Many more have been shot at and robbed, the WFP says.

The UN agency, which provides food for more than three million people in Darfur, warned last week that it will be forced to cut aid if the security situation does not improve.

According to the United Nations, up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 people have been killed