60+ killed in Darfur clashes
2006-05-21 22:41
Cairo - A new surge of inter-ethnic and militia violence has killed at least 60 people in separate attacks in Darfur in the past few days, said the African Union and the United Nations on Sunday.
The killings came ahead of an expected visit by top UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Tuesday.
A former envoy to Afghanistan and Iraq, Brahimi is due in Khartoum to push for the government to accept a UN resolution voted last week that plans for UN peacekeepers to take over operations in this vast region of western Sudan, said the UN.
Most of the recent attacks were launched by the so-called Janjaweed, a disparate group of Arab militiamen who are blamed for much of the atrocities in a conflict that has killed more than 180 000 people and displaced 2.5 million since 2003.
The Janjaweed allegedly are backed by the Sudanese government, which pledged to disarm them in the May 5 peace agreement signed in Abuja, Nigeria.
Intended disarming bandits
The UN said on Sunday it had received unconfirmed reports that the Sudanese army had fought a Janjaweed group in southern Darfur on May 18, killing six and arresting two. Sudanese authorities were not available to comment on the incident.
The UN said the Sudanese army and police had stated they would disarm armed bandits in the zone. Nazir Tigani, a local militia leader, warned he would resist such a move, said the UN.
Anticipating a possible increase in violence, the U.N.'s security assessment office in Sudan advised U.N. workers and international non-governmental organisations to limit their movement in the area and to update possible evacuation plans.
Stiff rise in attacks
Darfur rebel groups affiliated to leaders who refused the May 5 peace agreement have also executed some of the latest deadly raids, said the UN and the AU.
"We've been witnessing a stiff rise of attacks in the last week," said Moussa Hamani, the chief information officer for the 7 300-strong AU mission to Darfur.
"The problem seems to be that everyone wants to maximise their territory before the truce and disarmament actually come into effect," he said from Khartoum.
- AP