Sudanese government forces on Saturday engaged in a fresh battle with rebel forces in southern Darfur, ignoring an ultimatum from the African Union to halt an offensive, an AU spokesperson said.
Assane Ba said that the AU chairperson, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and the chairperson of the AU commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, will be informed of the fighting and will take a decision on the future of peace talks.
He said that international observers at the stalled Abuja peace conference on Darfur were told by the commander of the AU observer force in the region, General Festus Okonkwo, that fighting is continuing.
”General Okonkwo informed us that there is some fighting going on around Labado [in southern Darfur] which means that the government did not comply with the ultimatum to withdraw its troops from Labado,” he told reporters.
”General Okonkwo said he has spoken with his mission on the ground and said that up until now helicopters are firing on Labado,” he added.
”It’s not up to us at our level here to take a decision. We will inform the leadership of the AU, the chairman and the chairman of the AU commission of what is going on,” he said.
Ba said that AU mediators will meet on Sunday to discuss the situation with the delegates to the Abuja talks, but AU diplomats earlier signalled that if Khartoum refuses to withdraw its forces, then the talks will be suspended.
Rebel negotiators have since Tuesday been insisting that they will not sit down with the government while its two-week-old offensive, which was launched in defiance of an April ceasefire deal, continues. — Sapa-AFP