Rebels say 6 villages attacked; boycott talks

By ED JOHNSON
The Associated Press

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AL-FASHER, Sudan — Security has improved in refugee camps in Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region, but displaced villagers still face attacks and abuse when they leave their camps, a U.N. team said yesterday as it completed a mission that could determine whether Sudan is hit with international sanctions.

Darfur rebels, meanwhile, said government forces and Arab militiamen continue to bomb and torch villages and kill civilians, claiming there have been attacks on six villages in the previous three days, including one that killed 64 people.

To protest, the rebels said, they would hold a 24-hour boycott of peace talks with the Sudanese government in Abuja, Nigeria.

More than 1 million black African villagers have been driven from their homes by the militiamen known as the Janjaweed, who allegedly are backed by the Arab-dominated government, and many of the villagers are in 147 camps scattered across Darfur, a region the size of France.

An estimated 30,000 have been killed in the violence, which began in February 2003, when black rebel groups began an anti-government campaign. The latest attacks reported by the rebel negotiators could not be independently confirmed.

Deadline tomorrow

The United Nations has given Sudan until tomorrow to start acting to stop the militiamen or else face possible sanctions. Khartoum has said it is trying to restore security and denies any links to the Janjaweed.

Erick De Mul, U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator, said he saw improvements in the camps.
 
"Access to the IDPs (internally displaced people) is good and the government is cooperating. The safety, in broad terms, inside the camps is OK," he told reporters after a final meeting with Sudanese officials in al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

"Outside the camps, it is still a problem. We are still hearing of attacks and abuses when people venture outside, despite the government's effort of bringing in security forces," he said.

Sudan's minister of humanitarian affairs, Ibrahim Hamid, who attended the meeting in al-Fasher, said he was "very satisfied with the results we have seen."

He said it was normal many displaced people were afraid to return to their villages. "A war-affected population will need some time to feel secure," he said.

The Sudanese government says it has arrested an unspecified number of militiamen and sentenced some to death.

But Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based advocacy group, accused the government of letting the militias maintain at least 16 bases in the region — including five shared with the military.

At negotiations in Nigeria, Darfur rebel groups said they would not participate in talks today.

"While the negotiations are underway in Abuja, the government of Sudan troops and their Janjaweed militia have violated [an April] cease fire," the groups said in a statement. "A number of villages have been bombarded by helicopter gunships and Antonov aircraft while others have been attacked and torched over the last three days."

They said they would return to talks tomorrow.

Reports of two attacks

The rebels said the most recent attack took place yesterday at Klikel Abdousalaam village, where Sudan soldiers and the Janjaweed burned homes, killing two people, the insurgents said. In the deadliest attack, 64 civilians were killed and 156 wounded Thursday in the village of Yassin, they said.

Sudanese government negotiators decried the rebel walkout. "It's very sorrowful," delegation spokesman Ibrahim Mohamed said of the boycott. "We are here to negotiate and stop such painfulness."

Earlier yesterday, Sudan's government ruled out any discussion at the Abuja talks of an African Union proposal to send up to 2,000 peacekeepers into the Darfur region.

Sudanese Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs Mohammed Yusuf said yesterday that the proposal was "not an issue which could be discussed" at Abuja.

The African Union has 150 troops in Darfur and is sending 150 more to protect observers who have been monitoring a ceasefire that was called in April but has not been abided by.

Material from Reuters is included in this report.