April 21, 2004
Sudan: Cease-Fire With Rebels Is Holding
Associated Press

Firing guns into the air, rebels on camels and horses galloped into this dusty village four months ago, sending people fleeing for their lives and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer

TARINGA, Sudan - Firing guns into the air, rebels on camels and horses galloped into this dusty village four months ago, sending people fleeing for their lives and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The raid on Taringa in January was similar to attacks on many other villages and towns in Sudan's impoverished western Darfur province, where 14 months of fighting between two main rebel groups have killed thousands of people and forced more than 860,000 others to flee.

"When we returned (five days later), we found our houses burned down, properties looted and sorghum stolen," village chief Mohammed Eissa Suleiman told an Associated Press reporter Monday during a government-led tour of the region.

The United Nations (news - web sites) and human rights groups have accused Sudan's government of backing the "ethnic cleansing" of Africans by Arab tribes people and keeping aid groups and journalists out of Darfur to hide human rights abuses.

The government denies the allegations, despite accusations by refugees and rebels that Sudanese military forces have bombed and attacked civilians.

Western aid agencies also complained over the weekend that government officials were denying access to the hardest-hit areas in Darfur, an area the size of California that is home to a fifth of Sudan's 30 million people.

One aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear his group would be blacklisted, said the government ordered those allowed into some parts of Darfur not to bring cameras.

Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Hamid, speaking to reporters accompanying him Monday on a rare media tour of the region, said a 45-day cease-fire signed April 8 by the government and Darfur rebels was holding and aid groups were welcome.

Sudan also launched what it said would be a major reconstruction and rehabilitation campaign for areas hit by the fighting.

"As you can see, the psychological effect of this cease-fire is tremendous and since Sunday there has been no violation of this cease-fire," Hamid said in Nyala, 800 miles west of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

Hamid said a high-level U.N. mission was expected in Darfur Tuesday to assess humanitarian needs.

That 10-member mission, led by U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs Jan Egeland, had been expected to start a four-day visit of Darfur's three states on Sunday. Hamid did not explain the delay.

Egeland has described the violence against Africans in Darfur as "ethnic cleansing, but not genocide." He also has called the situation "one of the most forgotten and neglected humanitarian crises."

There was little sign of recent fighting in Nyala, a bustling regional capital. But local officials said two camps nearby sheltered 40,000 people who had fled their homes because of the violence and were afraid to return, despite the cease-fire.

In Taringa, a remote village near Sudan's border with Chad, chief Suleiman said he and roughly 200 other inhabitants have begun rebuilding their devastated home, one of six villages he said were destroyed by unidentified rebels.

"It was 8 a.m., even before we had breakfast, and a group of people riding camels and horses attacked our village," Suleiman said. "They started shooting in the air, so I told my people to run for their lives before they reached the village."

Five days later, the villagers crept back into Taringa to find their homes razed to the ground and food stocks stolen.

On Monday, about 5,000 people from nearby villages brought material to rebuild their destroyed homes and pledged not to fight each other, a local initiative supported by the government.

"This is a good thing that people come together and try to forget the past," Suleiman said.

West Darfur's governor, retired Maj. Gen. Suleiman Abdullah Adam, blamed "armed robbers, bandits or outlaws" for sacking the villages.

"The whole thing was related to the lack of security in the region."

Adam said the government has formed militias from various area tribes, already seen on foot or riding camels carrying small fire arms and wearing traditional Sudanese white robes or paramilitary uniforms, to "repel anyone ... who would undermine security."

The conflict began in February 2003, when two rebel groups — the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement — took up arms, saying they were fighting for a share of power and wealth in Africa's largest country.

The cease-fire followed peace talks in Chad between Sudanese government officials and rebels seeking a permanent solution. The Darfur fighting is unrelated to a 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, which has claimed more than 2 million lives, mainly through famine.

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