Darfur rebels accused the government on Tuesday of bombing areas under their control and said attacks this week showed Khartoum was not serious about seeking peace.
But the army denied the accusations, which come during the visit of a Sudanese delegation to London to follow up on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s offer to host Darfur peace talks.
A commander of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement said there had been bombing in North Darfur on Tuesday while a Sudan Liberation Army commander said government Antonov planes had bombed the West Darfur area of Jabel Moun on Monday.
Osman Wash, from the Justice and Equality Movement, said that at least 12 bombs had fallen on areas under the group’s control, wounding a 12-year-old child and a 62-year-old woman, who were not expected to survive.
Osman Abbas, a Sudan Liberation Army commander, said civilians were wounded in bombing at Jabel Moun on Monday that had violated United Nations Security Council resolutions.
But an army spokesperson said: ”All of our sources say this is not true — we have no movement in any of these areas.” A senior Sudanese army source denied there was any bombing in Jabel Moun.
International experts estimate about 200 000 people have died in five years of war in Darfur, mostly from hunger and disease, while 2,5-million people have been driven from their homes. Khartoum says only 10 000 have died.
A Sudanese delegation is in London this week following Brown’s offer to host peace talks, but rebels say the government is not serious about negotiating a solution.
”They are continuing this bombing while they have a delegation in London saying they want to discuss peace,” said JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein Adam. ”They are just continuing to impose a military solution,” he added.
Although a force of 26 000 UN-African Union peacekeepers is due to deploy in Darfur, only 9 000 are on the ground.
The peace process has been held up by continuing violence and the failure of rival rebel factions to agree a common platform.
A senior government official criticised the slow pace of mediation in state media on Tuesday.
Omar Adam Rahma, the government’s representative to the African Union, told the Sudanese Media Centre that the mediation had ”totally failed to create a suitable atmosphere to hold negotiations”. — Reuters