Thousands fleeing attacks in Western Darfur

In the last ten days an estimated 3,000 families have fled to the town of Junaynah from militia attacks in Western Darfur, according to local sources. Over the weekend between 3,000 and 4,000 people had streamed into the town after their villages were burned and looted, and were continuing to arrive on Monday, said one source. Many of the displaced are reportedly sleeping in the open without shelter, while some have been taken in by local people. Since the breakdown of peace talks on 15 December between the government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel group, fighting and militia attacks in all three Darfur states have escalated. In December alone, about 30,000 people fled from militia attacks across the border to neighbouring Chad, bringing the number of refugees there - mostly women and children - to 95,000. An SLA spokesman, Dahar Ibrahim, told IRIN that on 2 January about 225 men, women and children had been killed by Arab militias mounted on horses and camels in the village of Sorrah, about 15 km outside of Zalingei, Western Darfur. Describing the attack as "ethnic cleansing", he said the inhabitants of the town were mainly from the Fur ethnic group. There has been no independent confirmation of the attack or the number of casualties. Meanwhile, rebels reportedly attacked the village of Sharaya in Southern Darfur on 2 January, killing between four and six policemen and soldiers, and looting a local market. The Sudanese government has vowed to crush the Darfur rebellion, which it views as a security threat, using any available means. "We will use the army, the police, the mujahidin, the horsemen to get rid of the rebellion," President Umar al-Bashir was quoted as saying on state-run Sudanese television. But regional analysts say a political solution, based around devolution of power and equitable sharing of resources, is necessary to resolve Darfur's decades of economic and political neglect. December peace talks with the SLA fell apart after Chadian mediators accused the rebels of upping their demands to include the creation of an autonomous state in Darfur and a percentage of oil revenues. The SLA has denied the charge. The SLA spokesman, Dahar Ibrahim, told IRIN that a delegation sent to the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, had neither met the government delegation nor disclosed any of its demands to the Chadian negotiators, whom it views as being too friendly with Khartoum. Following preliminary and informal talks, Dahar said the mediators had told the SLA to go home. "They said they believed we could not reach an agreement, so we were told to go back to Darfur. We were surprised," said Dahar. "How did they come to this conclusion?" Regional analysts believe the talks may have collapsed due to a lack of willingness on the part of the Sudanese government to "internationalise" them, by allowing international monitors to take part. The SLA has repeatedly demanded the presence of international observers during peace talks; the protection of civilians and the guaranteed safe passage of humanitarian relief; and international observers to monitor a future ceasefire. In a statement released after the breakdown of the talks, it also proposed including the negotiations in the peace process being sponsored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement - expected to reach an agreement this month - and called on the UN to form a committee to investigate massacres in Darfur. Neither Darfur's second rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, nor the militias have been included in peace talks to date. Regional analysts accuse militias of perpetrating gross human rights abuses including the killing of several thousand people and displacing hundreds of thousands of others. It remains unclear to what extent either the government or local Arab tribal leaders exercise control over them.