Arab militias kill 63 in Darfur, half of them children
* United Nations urges government to protect civilians
Daily Times, November 4, 2006
TINE: Attacks in West Darfur have killed at least 63 people, half of them children, as rebels on Friday accused Khartoum of remobilising Arab militia after suffering two military defeats on the Sudan-Chad border.
“The government have begun mobilising the Janjaweed widely, especially in West Darfur, because they want to clear the area and move north along the border and defeat us,” said Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, a leader of the National Redemption Front (NRF).
Rebels from the NRF alliance said of the 63 dead, 33 were children. The United Nations said 27 of those were under 12 and urged the government to protect civilians.
A struggling African Union force, monitoring a widely ignored peace deal, said up to 92 people might have been killed in the attack on October 29 on at least four villages in the Jabel Moun area, where rebel and government forces are present.
AU soldiers said the government was also bombing regularly in the area around and north of Tine town on the Sudan-Chad border. The last bombardment was on October 23.
Sudanese officials deny the reports saying they have not mobilised Arab militia and the army denies using its Antonov planes, which would be a violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes in 3-1/2 years of revolt in Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Friday indicated the toll in Darfur had been exaggerated saying only 10,000 people had died in western Sudan. At a news conference in Beijing where he was attending a summit of African leaders, he reiterated that he would not allow UN forces into Darfur, despite a UN resolution authorising 22,000 UN troops to replace AU peacekeepers.
“We decided that with such an army moving into our country, the impact is going to be the same as what’s been happening in Iraq,” Bashir said.
At the Beijing meeting, Chinese President Hu Jintao appeared to be nudging Bashir towards accommodation. “The Darfur issue is again at a critical juncture,” Chinese State television quoted him saying on Thursday.
An AU-brokered peace deal in May signed by the government and one of three rebel negotiating factions has seen little implementation. In fact since the deal was signed to much fanfare in Abuja, Nigeria, violence has only increased and a new war has broken out in North Darfur. reuters
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