Darfur rebels keen to extend ceasefire

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) rebel group operating in Darfur, western Sudan, says it is keen to extend a ceasefire agreement with the Sudanese government. Speaking from the Jebel Mara area, the SLM/A spokesman Ahmed Abd al-Shafi told IRIN his group wanted to extend the agreement, due to expire next Thursday, because of the humanitarian needs in Darfur and the suffering of its people. He added that the SLM/A leadership and Darfur elders had been holding discussions for the last three days to "settle the decision". People were arriving from all over Darfur to take part in the talks, which would probably go on for a further two days. He said Arab militia attacks were still continuing on a grand scale. On Thursday, he said, they had attacked three villages in south Jebel Mara, burning them to the ground and killing 30 people. "No-one can control them [the militias]," he said. With no international monitors on the ground, there is no independent confirmation of the attacks. The SLA took up arms against the government in March 2003 to fight against "marginalisation, racial discrimination, and exploitation," in Darfur. In early September a ceasefire accord was signed in Chad, but since August about 300,000 people have been displaced in the region, and an unknown number killed in militia attacks, which have systematically forced local farmers off their land. The government, which has denied backing and arming the militias, has committed itself to controlling them.