Khartoum claims new victory in Bahr al-Ghazal

The Sudanese government on Sunday claimed to have recaptured the town of Deim Zubeir (Daym Zubayr), Western Bahr al-Ghazal, after over five months of its occupation by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). "The recapture of Deim Zubeir (Daym Zubayr) is part of an operation which has been continuing since [the town of] Raga was recaptured by the government," deputy head of mission at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Muhammad Dirdiery, told IRIN on Monday. There has, as yet, been no independent capture of the town, which is located in an active military zone from which humanitarian agencies are banned, and SPLM/A spokespersons were unavailable for comment. Thousands of civilians have been displaced in renewed fighting between the government and SPLA in Western Bahr al-Ghazal through October and November, during which government retook Raga in mid-October. Sudanese radio on Monday reported a statement from the general command of the armed forces as saying that government troops had inflicted heavy losses in lives and material on the SPLM/A, as "the rebels fled in a disgraced manner." It also claimed that, during their occupation of the town, rebel soldiers had "mistreated the citizens and violated their dignity and human rights." Since June, when SPLM/A forces captured Deim Zubeir (Daym Zubayr) and the nearby strategic town of Raga, the war in Western Bahr al-Ghazal has forced an estimated 50,000 people to flee their homes. The government of Sudan has been severely criticised by aid agencies and human rights groups for carrying out bomb attacks on civilian populations, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), in Western Bahr al-Ghazal and other regions of southern Sudan. Visiting US envoy to Sudan, John Danforth, last week called on the government in Khartoum to cease bomb attacks on civilian targets in the south as a confidence-building measure which could help end the country's 18-year civil war. Danforth also called for improved humanitarian access to conflict areas, periods of tranquility in which immunisations and other relief interventions could take place, and an end to abductions. The SPLM/A claimed on 1 November that government forces had intensified their bombing campaign in Western Bahr al-Ghazal and were "waging a war of displacement" on the civilian population there. These claims were denied by Dirdiery, who said the SPLA was bitter at ceding control of the towns, and at having lost the support of the local population. "It was natural for the government to recapture Deim Zubeir (Daym Zubayr) because the SPLM/A has no support whatsoever among the local population in that area," Dirdiery added.