Sudan bombs rebel areas in Darfur after AU peacekeeper visit

Sudan bombs rebel areas in Darfur after AU peacekeeper visit

CAIRO, Egypt -- Sudanese forces bombed two rebel locations in Darfur just days after the head of the African Union's peacekeeping force visited the area to urge the rebels to join a cease-fire agreement, the AU said Sunday.
A Sudanese government aircraft on Friday bombed Anka and Um Rai in North Darfur province where Gen. Luke Aprezi had met on Wednesday with rebels, an AU statement said.
"When a bombing is made after I have visited an area, my credibility is involved," Aprezi told The Associated Press by telephone from Khartoum, Sudan's capital. "To that group, I don't have any credibility anymore."
Aprezi declined to provide details about the Sudanese strike, which jeopardizes efforts to bring additional groups into the cease-fire that a single rebel faction and the government signed in May 2006, the AU said.
The AU statement said Sudanese officials had given consent ahead of time for Aprezi to meet with the rebels. Sudanese officials were not immediately available for comment.
Efforts to broaden the Darfur Peace Agreement have failed and the United Nations and aid workers report that violence has increased since the signing.
Sudan's president agreed last week to accept U.N. support to strengthen the underfunded 7,000-strong AU peacekeeping force charged with monitoring the cease-fire in the troubled area approximately the size of France.
The first group of U.N. experts -- 43 military staff officers and 24 policemen -- have arrived in Sudan and will deploy to Darfur after a week of orientation, Aprezi said.
Conflict erupted in Darfur in February 2003 when the mostly African ethnic tribes rebelled against the Arab central government. Violence has claimed some 200,000 lives and forced 2.5 million people from their homes in this vast arid area.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AU accuses Sudan of Darfur raid





Sudan's air force has carried out new bombing raids against two rebel areas of Darfur province, the African Union says.

The fresh attacks on Saturday threatened to de-rail a peace deal between Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the main rebel group, the AU said in a statement on Sunday.

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The bombings came just a day after African Union (AU) officials visited the area on Friday to secure their commitment to a ceasefire, Luke Aprezi, commander of a 7,000 strong AU force in Darfur said.

One rebel group confirmed the attack, but did not say much damage had been caused.

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"For the first time, I visited them [rebels] in the field in Um Rai [North Darfur] ... and I was able to get a ceasefire commitment from them," Aprezi said.

"Unfortunately [Sudan's army] went and bombed the area and it looks like I led them to the area to get bombed."

The meeting was held on Friday and he notified the government of it, he said.

Aprezi's AU force, hampered by lack of equipment and funds, has struggled to stem the violence in remote western Sudan.

Peace deal

A peace deal was signed between one of three negotiating rebel factions and the government in May.

Rival rebel groups rejected it, formed a new military alliance and renewed hostilities with the government.

A government army spokesman said there was no confirmation of this in Khartoum.

"Darfur commanders cannot undertake bombing operations without the knowledge of central command in Khartoum," the spokesman told Reuters news agency.

"But we in central command are completely committed to the ceasefire."

Following the new bombings, it was unclear if rebel groups would honour the ceasefire negotiated by Aprezi on Friday.

The fighting has driven 2.5 million people from their homes and killed an estimated 200,000.