Darfur rebel group 'abducts 17'

2008-01-17 13:36

London - A Darfur rebel group that has boycotted peace talks has kidnapped at least 17 people, says a human rights group.

Amnesty International said those abducted had apparently been targeted for supporting efforts to unify the various factions of the Sudanese Liberation Army, which had been fighting Sudan's government since 2003.

The group broke apart after one faction of the SLA signed a 2006 peace accord signed with the government, while the rest refused. The rejectionist factions had since splintered further.

Amnesty accused the faction led by Abdel Wahid Nur, the SLA's founder, of luring some of the men to his headquarters in Dirbat, about 800km west of Khartoum, where they were disarmed and detained in December.

Nur refused to attend peace talks

Abdallah Amir al-Muminin, an SLA legal adviser, and three others were also abducted in Dirbat, Amnesty said, adding that the detainees were at risk of torture and that one of them, Tya Kuku Rahal, might have already been killed.

A key Darfur rebel chief, Nur had consistently refused to attend peace talks and had boycotted attempts to reconcile the various factions of the SLA.

Although Amnesty said Nur was now based in Paris, he remained a key player because his tribe, the Fur, was the largest in the region and he still maintained a large civilian following in Darfur, particularly among those displaced by the fighting there.

More than 200 000 people had died in the western Sudanese region and 2.5 million had fled to refugee camps since 2003, when the SLA and another rebel group took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of discrimination. Sudan denied multiple allegations of war crimes in the region.

- AP