Rebel-held villages in Southern Darfur reportedly bombed

Several villages in rebel-held areas of Southern Darfur State were bombed on Thursday, relief workers said. Initial reports suggested that the villages of Marla, Labado and Muhajiriyah, all controlled by the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement Army (SLM/A), had been attacked, the sources in Southern Darfur told IRIN. Helicopter gunships had flown over Kalma camp, outside Nyala, the capital of Southern Darfur, on Wednesday evening, one of the relief workers told IRIN. On Thursday, the same gunships again flew very low over Kalma camp, pausing for effect, then travelling east to an unknown destination in the late morning and evening. Displaced people in Kalma later told relief workers that they "saw" and "heard" explosions to the east, IRIN was told. Local sources said they believed that the government could have commenced a military operation against the rebels to the east of Nyala. It was not immediately possible to get a comment from either the Sudanese military or government authorities. According to the sources, the attacks were similar to an attack in the Ta'a'ishah area in early June, except that Ta'a'ishah is not under SLM/A control. The aid workers said they expected displaced people to retreat further into SLM/A-controlled areas as a result of the attacks. On Thursday, Sudanese officials repeatedly told reporters in Al-Fashir, the capital of Northern Darfur, that rebels, who say they are fighting the government for greater recognition of non-Arab populations in western Sudan, had been responsible for all the violations of the 8 April ceasefire and attacks on civilians in Darfur. Interior Minister Abd-al Rahim Muhammad Husayn said his "main duties" were to secure and protect the people of Darfur, either in their camps or in their villages, to ensure that humanitarian aid reached all areas of Darfur and to "secure the villages" so that people could return home. Blaming the attacks against civilians on bandits - a word at times used by the government to describe the rebels - he said: "I want to protect the people from all kinds of outlaws." He said he was deploying about 6,000 policemen to maintain security, and that he would disarm militias who are reportedly allied to the government but have been accused of abusing civilians in the area. "We will disarm them, we will try them so we can protect the people," he pledged. The Sudanese government was this week warned by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it must provide security in Darfur and allow aid into the region. Annan said he wanted to see progress within 48 hours, while Powell said he had given the Sudanese a timetable of specific tasks to be fulfilled within days and weeks; otherwise the international community would consider tabling a UN resolution condemning Sudan's actions, Powell said. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il assured Powell of his cooperation and thanked him for his visit. "I would like to assure him [Powell] of our full cooperation with the US, with the international community, with the UN, the NGOs," he said.