Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 308 - Feb. 11th

- Government wages attacks in Darfur.

From Sudan Tribune:


Sudanese army attack three rebel positions in Jebel Marra



February 10, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese troops and armed militia attacked today the position of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel Wahid Al Nur in Jebel Marra, a rebel official said on Wednesday.

The attack comes one month after the SLA-AW rebels took the control of Gulu, the capital of the mountainous area, from the army on January 13. It also highlights the growing violence in the Jebel where the fighting between the government army and the rebels resumed since last summer.

"Since this morning Sudanese army and Janjaweed militiamen attacked three of our positions in Kadmir, Lidy and Fugly in the southern east of Jebel Marra," said Ibrahim El-Hilu, a SLM spokesperson.

He said the fighting continued all the day till the evening, stressing that warplanes and helicopters also participated in the fighting. "the troops arrived from Nyala and Malam," he added.

Aid workers in the area confirmed the attack to Sudan Tribune.

However Ibrahim was unable to provide details about the causalities of today’s clashes saying it displaced thousands from their homes.

The humanitarian situation in the area has been recently described as grave by many humanitarian groups.

UNAMID and some aid groups agreed yesterday on a plan to provide humanitarian assistance to the newly-displaced persons in Nertiti, 65 kilometres west of Zalingei in West Darfur, another part of the mountainous area.

The hybrid peacekeeping explained the increase of IDPs by inter-factional fighting that erupted in Jebel Marra last January.


- From Radio Dabanga:

NIERTETE (11 Feb.) – IDPs who fled last week Jebel Marra to Niertete complain of shortage of food and humanitarian aid. They fled the inter-factional fighting in the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM). IDPs told Radio Dabanga they live under trees or in the streets of Niertete without support. They asked the international community for help.

- In the IDP camp of Abu-Shauk near Elfasher (the capital of North Darfur), an elementary school was burned down to ground. The leaders of the camp suspect that the fire was deliberately set by an arsonist. The six-classes school was completely destroyed. The fire was set while the school is off-classes time. No reports of deaths or injuries.