70 dead in Sudan, talks on troops
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KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Fighting between Arab and African tribes has killed at least 70 people and displaced thousands more this week in the Darfur region of western Sudan, a member of parliament for the area said Wednesday.
Khalil Ahmed Abdullah told Reuters the clashes had escalated from a dispute between individuals to a tribal conflict which had displaced 35,000 people from an area in the south of Darfur over the past four days.
"Only 14,000 of them have been accounted for. We don't know where the others are," Abdullah said in Khartoum.
Abdullah said the clashes did not involve Darfur rebels and Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who the rebels say have conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the area with government backing. Khartoum denies the accusation.
African leaders meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa meanwhile Wednesday were considering sending troops to the Darfur region to protect the one million civilians who have fled marauding Arab militias, a senior African Union official said.
Four African presidents, including South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, the new AU president, were due to report to the full summit by Thursday, the official told Reuters.
"They have established a committee to discuss expanding the mandate of the AU to protecting the civilians in Darfur," he said.
The AU's Peace and Security Council has already recommended sending 300 armed soldiers to Darfur to protect AU monitors of a shaky cease fire signed between Khartoum and rebels in April. Sudan said it would not block the deployment.
Also Wednesday British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned the Sudanese government to to expect tougher international action if it fails to help aid get through to starving people in Darfur.
Blair told parliament that the food needed to ease the humanitarian crisis in the region was in place was in place and plans had been agreed on ways to tackle militia activity.
"We expect the Government of Sudan to cooperate in this and if they do not so-operate we will have to consider what further measures we take," he said. "It is not acceptable if the aid is there that it does not get through to the displaced people."
Local MP Abdullah said the latest clashes in Darfur did not involve Darfur rebels and Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who the rebels say have conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the area with government backing. Sudan denies the accusation.
 200,000 Sudanese refugees have been displaced to neighboring Chad. | |
Sudanese security forces had brought fighting under control in one of four areas of violence, 76 km (47 miles) southeast of Nyala, the capital of Southern Darfur state, Abdullah said.
Leaders from the Arab Rizeigat tribe and African Burgo tribe had arrived to mediate.
A U.N. official in Sudan was not able to verify the number of dead or displaced. "The last that we heard from there was that the situation had calmed down," the official said.
A U.N. security team was assessing whether it was necessary to withdraw U.N. staff from the area, the official added.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned African leaders Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region could destabilize the region if they did not take action.
