Fighting renewed in Sudan; major offensive expected in coming days
The United States said it had received reports of renewed fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region, one day after the UN Security Council called on Khartoum to allow a major deployment of peacekeepers to the area.
Sudan earlier Friday reiterated threats to attack any UN troops sent without its consent to Darfur, where a three-and-a-half year war between African rebels and forces allied to the Arab-led government has left hundreds of thousands dead and some 2.5 million people homeless.
A UN-brokered peace agreement reached in May between one of the three main rebel groups and the Khartoum government had raised hopes for an end to the conflict.
But Washington and the UN have been warning in recent weeks that government forces were preparing for a new offensive against the hold-out rebel groups and Friday a State Department official indicated that combat appeared to have begun.
“We are receiving preliminary reports of violence and attacks on villages in north Darfur,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“We continue to call on all the parties, the government of Sudan, and non-signatories to the (Darfur peace agreement) to avoid further hostilities,” the official said.
“There can be no military solution to the situation in Darfur,” he said.
The official did not provide further detail of the fighting, but The Washington Post earlier Friday quoted a rebel commander in north Darfur as saying government aircraft had been bombing villages in the area, and that thousands of government troops were headed to the region.
The commander said rebels were regrouping to resist the offensive and that a major new round of fighting was expected in the “coming days.”
Thursday the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the deployment of up to 21,000 troops and police under UN authority to halt what Washington has described as “genocide” against Darfur’s African population.
The resolution said the deployment would only take place with the consent of the Khartoum government, which immediately rejected the plan.
But US officials insisted Friday that the resolution’s language would permit a unilateral deployment of UN peacekeepers if needed to halt a further humanitarian disaster.
The officials said they were hoping to convince Khartoum to accept the peacekeepers during a visit to Washington, expected next week, by Sudan’s foreign minister Lam Akol.
The UN Security Council is due to discuss the peacekeeping deployment again next Friday.
Under the plan, UN troops would reinforce and replace a woefully under-funded African Union force of 7,000 men which has failed to halt attacks on civilians, refugee camps and aid operations in Darfur.
The State Department official called on government and rebel forces alike to cooperate with implementing Thursday’s UN resolution, just the latest in a long series of UN attempts to halt the violence in Darfur.
“Every day that we delay adds to the suffering of the Sudanese people and extends the genocide,” he said.
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