Hundreds flee as Sudan army, Darfur rebels clash

Sudan's army attacked the only Darfur rebel group to sign a 2006 peace deal, burning houses and forcing up to 250 civilians to flee, international peacekeepers said on Saturday.

The clashes on Friday and Saturday were the latest in a series reported between the government and the Sudan Liberation Movement loyal to Minni Arcua Minnawi, who signed the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Sudan's army declared Minnawi's forces a military target this month, accusing him of breaking a ceasefire and plotting to join other insurgents still fighting the government.

"There have been two ground attacks, one yesterday morning and another today at around 11 am (0800 GMT)," said Chris Cycmanick, spokesman for Darfur's joint UN/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force. "They were attacks by SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) on Minni Minnawi elements."

Both attacks were on the village of Khor Abeche, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital of south Darfur, Nyala, he said.

At least one person was killed and 16 injured in the first clash which forced up to 250 civilians to take shelter at a nearby UNAMID base, Cycmanick said.

At least five people were injured in Saturday's assault when attackers also set fire to houses, he added.

No one was immediately available for comment from the army.

Minnawi became a presidential assistant after signing the internationally-brokered accord in the Nigerian capital Abuja in May 2006. The deal was boycotted by Darfur's two other main rebels forces and did nothing to end the fighting and banditry in the remote western region.

After elections in April Minnawi was not re-appointed to the presidential post, technically the fourth most senior position in the country. He recently moved to the capital of south Sudan, Juba.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in 2003, accusing the Khartoum government of neglecting the region. Khartoum set out to crush the rebellion with troops and mostly Arab militias, unleashing a wave of violence which Washington and some activists call genocide.

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