MOBILE DEVICES
Free Headline Alerts     
Worldwide Web WorldTribune.com

  breaking... 


Thursday, March 11, 2010    

Sudan takes control in central Darfour; 100,000 flee fighting

CAIRO — Sudan has launched its first major offensive in 2010 in Darfour.   

Officials said the Sudanese military launched air and ground operations in central Darfour in March. They said the army seized the rebel-held area of Jebel Mara, a stronghold of the Sudanese Liberation Army.

"The situation is now normal," Sudanese Army spokesman Khaled Saad said on March 8. "The Sudanese forces have imposed control over Jebel Mara."


Also In This Edition

Officials said the military offensive was meant to drive out rebels from areas of Darfour. They said the rebels were endangering the operations of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force, or UNAMID.

In 2010, several members of the joint peacekeeping force were abducted or killed. The Sudanese military said the UN had ignored Khartoum's warnings of an increasingly dangerous rebel presence.

The Sudanese Liberation Army has been one of the two major rebel groups still operating in Darfour. A rival of the SLA, led by Abdul Wahed Mohammed Nour, has been the Justice and Equality Movement, which has refused to sign a reconciliation agreement with the Khartoum regime.

In his briefing, Saad said rebels have killed more than 200 people, including civilians, in Jebel Mara. He said about 100,000 people have fled the recent fighting between rebel groups as well as their attacks on UNAMID.

On March 5, suspected rebels attacked a UNAMID convoy on its way to Deribat, the largest city in Jebel Mara. The alleged SLA force was said to have captured seven peacekeeping vehicles as well as scores of assault rifles.

"This will have an impact in the Jebel Mara region," Saad said.



About Us     l    Contact Us     l    Geostrategy-Direct.com     l    East-Asia-Intel.com
Copyright © 2010    East West Services, Inc.    All rights reserved.