Darfur rebels accuse government of breaking ceasefire

A rebel group in western Sudan’s Darfur region, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), has accused the Sudanese government of breaking a ceasefire agreement signed last Wednesday by both sides. SLM Secretary-General Minni Arkou Minnawi told IRIN the government had attacked three of its camps outside Kutum, northern Darfur. On Sunday morning, two helicopter gunships and government militias attacked the camps, he said, killing two members of the SLA and injuring four. "We don't know how many civilians have been caught up in it," he added. Minnawi said similar attacks were continuing on Monday. No comment was available from the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi. The agreement, which came into effect on 6 September for 45 days, covered a ceasefire, ways of controlling armed irregular groups in the region, and the release of all prisoners of war and those detained in connection with the conflict. The Sudanese government said on Saturday that it had freed 54 SLA prisoners as part of the agreement, agencies reported. A 15-member committee made up of five representatives each of the government, the SLM/A and Chad was due to begin talks on Sunday in the Sudanese border town of Teina, western Darfur, but Minnawi told IRIN the SLA would agree to talk only after the truce had been respected. The SLA launched its rebellion in March to fight against "marginalisation, racial discrimination, and exploitation" in the region. Hundreds of civilians, mainly from the Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit and Tungur ethnic groups, have been killed or injured in what appear to be targeted attacks, and tens of thousands have been displaced in the last few months, Amnesty International said in a recent report. The human rights group said it feared "the death toll in Darfur is much higher than that which is currently reported", due to a lack of independent observers in the region and an information black-out. The World Organisation Against Torture has also been appealing on behalf of detainees in Darfur, accused of supporting the SLM/A, who have allegedly been detained arbitrarily, ill-treated and tortured. Meanwhile, an assessment mission carried out last week by the Chadian authorities and UN agencies found that 65,000 Sudanese refugees - mostly women and children - who fled the fighting and ethnic violence in Darfur were living in "miserable" conditions in neighbouring Chad. They were living out in the open with no shelter, blankets or plastic sheeting to protect themselves and no access to clean water, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported. An unknown number of children had already died of malaria, diarrhoea and starvation. The refugees are scattered in parts of three regions in northern and north-eastern Chad. In Teina subprefecture, the 28,000 registered refugees had "swamped" the local population of just 11,000, said UNHCR. While some locals had given the refugees food, they did not have enough to eat themselves, said the agency, and some refugees had resorted to eating tree bark. "The influx continues, with new refugees arriving every day, and even more expected," it added.