Darfur: Aid agencies desperate
2010-03-03 15:52
Khartoum - Aid agencies were desperately trying to negotiate access on Wednesday to an area of Darfur where rebels say fighting with government troops over the past week has killed more than 200 civilians.
"Humanitarian representatives are engaged with the government in negotiating the access to Jebel Marra," said Sam Hendricks, spokesperson of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In recent days there have been repeated clashes in the eastern part of Jebel Marra, the fertile plateau in the heart of Darfur, between the army and the Sudan Liberation Army faction of Abdelwahid Nur, one of the main rebel factions still holding out against a peace deal with the government.
The army has questioned the heavy civilian death toll cited by the rebels but on Tuesday the United States said it was "extremely concerned" about the fighting.
Sudanese military operations in Jebel Marra "have reportedly caused significant civilian casualties, displacement, and the evacuation of humanitarian organisations," State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said.
He urged the Khartoum government "to refrain from further violence and to allow the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur access to Jebel Marra to assess the humanitarian situation and restore stability."
French aid agency Medecins du Monde said the recent fighting in the eastern part of Jebel Marra had forced 100 000 civilians to flee their homes.
A share of power
It said clashes around the town of Deribat had forced it to suspend its operations in the area.
The flare-up in fighting between Nur's SLA faction and government forces came after another key rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, signed a peace deal with Khartoum last month.
The JEM, the most heavily armed Darfur rebel group, which launched an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital Khartoum in 2008, has carried out a series of prisoner exchanges with the government since the deal and seen more than 100 of its fighters on death row amnestied.
But Nur blasted the deal as a cynical pitch for a share of power in Khartoum.
"What peace is it? A ceremonial peace... a struggle to get government posts? he asked in an interview.
The US State Department spokesperson urged Nur's SLA faction to join the peace process with the Khartoum government.
"The February 20 ceasefire signed by the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) offers an important opportunity to significantly reduce violence in Darfur, but it must be broadened to include other groups," Crowley said.
- SAPA