Sudan confirms clashes with former Darfur rebels

News Article by REUTERS posted on July 30, 2008 at 01:55:18: EST (-5 GMT)

Sudan confirms clashes with former Darfur rebels KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army confirmed on Tuesday that police clashed at the weekend with former Darfur rebels, killing four of them, but said it was the government forces that had come under attack. Minni Arcua Minnawi's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), which signed a 2006 peace deal but has increasingly poor relations with Khartoum, had accused the army of attacking his forces in Darfur on Saturday. The army had previously denied any clashes, but said on Tuesday that fighting had been with the police. "What happened is that SLM Minnawi attacked a convoy on that road and the police responded, killing four of them and injuring two," a spokesman said. Minnawi said it was the second attack on his forces since President Omar Hassan al-Bashir toured Darfur last week in a show of defiance against the International Criminal Court's move to seek an arrest warrant against him for genocide and war crimes in the western region. Minnawi and two other factions also said the army had bombed several villages last week as Bashir was calling on rebels to join a new peace process. Minnawi became presidential assistant after the 2006 accord but he left his palace office for Darfur months ago protesting the government's lack of political will to implement the deal which has done little to improve security. Joint U.N.-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur (UNAMID) said they would investigate the latest reports of clashes although the force has limited air power and heavy rains have cut off many roads in the region. The most militarily powerful rebel group, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), made an unprecedented attack on Khartoum in May. Sudan's interior ministry said on Tuesday that as part of a plan to secure the capital there would be 12 crossing points into Khartoum state from the neighboring states of North Kordofan and White Nile. Those would be supported by 15 armed posts stretching from the capital's western suburb Omdurman all the way to the state borders. The statement seen by Reuters added these new measures would be implemented jointly by the army and the police. International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect. Khartoum blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and says 10,000 people have been killed.