ReutersSudan army bombs kill six
Sat March 13, 2004 11:40 AM ET
By Nima Elbagir
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army bombed a town in the western Darfur region, killing six civilians and injuring 25, eyewitnesses say, weeks after the government said major military operations were over in the area.
Two rebel groups launched a revolt in remote Darfur last February, accusing the government of neglecting the arid region and arming Arab militias to burn and loot African villages.
The oil producer's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, said last month the government was in full control of Darfur and major military operations were over, which the rebels deny.
A resident of Sherya town, about 45 miles east of the Southern Darfur state capital Nyala, said that Antonov planes began bombarding the town on Friday evening and Arab militias known as "Janjaweed" attacked at the same time.
"The aerial bombardment began on Friday evening. We left as soon as we heard the Janjaweed coming. They were screaming and shooting into the air so we ran," the man, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone.
He said six women and children were killed by the bombings, including a one-year-old child, and 25 people were injured.
The Sudanese armed forces spokesman declined to comment and the governor of Southern Darfur was unavailable for comment.
A spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) told Reuters by telephone from near Sherya the bombing was continuing sporadically and 15 children were still missing.
The United Nations warns of a humanitarian crisis in Darfur and says the conflict has affected one million people with more than 100,000 refugees fleeing to Chad.
DISPLACED TOLD TO LEAVE
Government officials in Khartoum told Sudanese giving food and shelter to more than 2,300 Darfurians, who sold the last of their possessions to seek refuge in the capital, to clear the area where they were encamped within two days.
Muhamed Musa, a resident in the southern Khartoum suburb of Merowe, told Reuters on Saturday that officials from the government's commission for refugees had come to the camp to help the displaced people return to Darfur.
"But when we told them none of them wanted to go back because they did not feel safe there, they told us we had to clear the camp and take the people into our houses," he said.
Aid workers at the makeshift camp say there are 1,195 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the makeshift camp of a mosque and a school, and the rest of the IDPs had already been taken into what little space there was in people's homes.
The office of the minister for humanitarian assistance, Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, said he was not available for comment.
nahar osman nahar
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست