Darfur rebels accused of rape and murder

Khartoum - Fighters of the largest Darfur rebel faction, which signed a May peace deal for the western Sudanese region, stand accused of raping and murdering civilians in an offensive against rebel holdouts, the United Nations reported on Sunday.

Four thousand civilians have fled the fighting between the rival factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement in the Tawila area of North Darfur state, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said in a situation report.

More than 650 displaced people, most of them women and children, arrived in the Zam Zam camp alone, the report said, citing the African Union peacekeeping mission in the region.




The displaced were all members of the Fur ethnic group - the region's largest - which provides much of the support for the holdout SLM faction of Abdul Wahid al-Nur.

One of the displaced said he had witnessed 15 young women "being raped and then killed" by fighters of the mainstream SLM faction of Minni Minnawi, the report said.

The same informant charged that about 40 men were kidnapped and "were believed to have been executed", it added, noting that the general security situation was reported to be tense.

Minnawi's faction signed a May peace deal with the government after talks sponsored by the African Union in Abuja.

Nur's faction and another rebel group - the Justice and Equality Movement - declined to sign the agreement aimed at ending more than three years of fighting in which an estimated 300 000 people have died and 2.4-million more been displaced.

The UN mission also reported ethnic unrest in South Darfur state between the Arab Habaniya tribe and the Falata.

The death of seven Habaniya traders in an ambush by Falata fighters in Ragag south-west of the state capital of Nyala Thursday sparked clashes Friday in which 15 people were killed, the report said. - Sapa-AFP