Sudan, rebels resume heavy fighting in Darfur

Friday 10 August 2007.

August 9, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Heavy fighting in southern Darfur has killed scores of rebels and government forces over the past week, and the Sudanese air force has bombed several villages, rebels and international observers in Darfur reported Thursday.

The clashes began Aug. 1 when a coalition of rebels, including members of the Justice and Equality Movement, captured the strategic town of Adila, where Sudanese troops were stationed to protect the only railway linking Darfur to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, rebels said.

The Sudanese army and its allied janjaweed militias "were summarily defeated, leaving behind heavy weapons and ammunition," JEM said in a statement. The group said the offensive was led by Abdelazziz Ushar, a Darfur field commander previously fighting a separate rebellion in eastern Sudan.

A senior international observer in Darfur said Thursday that Sudanese forces had recaptured Adila, located near South Darfur’s border with the neighboring region of Khordofan, but reported clashes were ongoing.

"It seems over 100 (Sudanese) soldiers or janjaweed have been killed," the official told The Associated Press on the telephone. At least 10 rebels were killed and 15 injured, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Rebels said they launched the offensive because the janjaweed were burning villages in the area.

The African Union mission in Darfur confirmed there had been heavy fighting, but said it had no further details.

"The zone around Adila is a no-go area for us," said A.U. spokesman Noureddine Mezni.

Rebels and international observers said the fighters seized more than 50 government vehicles and some heavy armament during the offensive.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s air force bombed at least four villages in the area this week, observers and rebels said, but there were no reports of casualties because many of the civilians have fled.

One of JEM’s leaders said his group shot down a government MIG-29 fighter jet on Wednesday that was participating in the bombings, a claim denied by the government and disputed by other rebels.

Abdullahi el-Tom told AP the aircraft’s wreckage had been found 2.8 miles south of Adila, but the pilot had not been located.

Rebels from a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement fighting alongside JEM told international observers the jet crashed because of a mechanical problem.

Army spokesman Gen. Osman Mohamed al-Agbash denied that rebels had downed a government jet, but indicated the military had faced heavy fighting in Adila.

"JEM wants to tell the international community that the army has used air bombing in (the) recapturing of Adila," the Sudan Media Center, a news services deemed close to the government, quoted al-Agbash as saying. There was no comment on military casualties.

Military flights are banned over Darfur by several U.N. resolutions and peace agreements, and Sudanese authorities routinely deny conducting air raids.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited Darfur last month and said the region was largely pacified. But the U.N. mission in Sudan said there have been clashes between rebels and the government in northern Darfur in recent days.

The heavy fighting in Adila came as the U.N. and A.U. sponsored a Darfur rebel conference in Arusha, Tanzania, to relaunch talks with the government after a May 2006 peace agreement between Khartoum and one rebel faction last year proved largely ineffective.

JEM’s el-Tom confirmed that rebel delegates attended last week’s conference and were willing to negotiate a peace agreement with Khartoum.

"But for the moment we have no cease-fire," he said. "Fighting will go on until we agree on something with Khartoum."

More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by unleashing janjaweed militias, which are blamed for the worst atrocities against civilians in a conflict that has displaced more than 2.5 million people.

The government denies the charges but resisted for months a push for U.N. peacekeepers to replace the 7,000-strong A.U. force in Darfur. A July Security Council resolution provides for a "hybrid force" of 26,000 U.N. and A.U. troops to deploy in Darfur under a compromise deal that could see the peacekeepers in the region by the end of the year.

(AP)