Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, West Darfur - NMRD Darfur rebels attack Sudan army base in Arm Yakui

Whenever Darfur peace talks get close to an agreement the rebels fall out or split up and start killing to make headline news involving all sides. None are interested in peace. It's how they make a living. This could go on for years.

Today, Reuters correspondent Opheera McDoom reports the Darfur rebel group National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD) said they attacked a Sudanese military base in West Darfur January 28, 2006, killing 78 soldiers and accused Chadian insurgents of working alongside Sudan's armed forces.

NMRD (third group of Darfuri rebels) not in Darfur peace talks

Note, the report says the two other Darfur rebel groups, SLA and JEM, are in peace talks with Khartoum, but the NMRD are not and do not respect a ceasefire signed between those groups and the government in 2004. Further excerpts:

The Sudanese army source said the attack came from within Chadian territory. "This attack came suddenly from inside Chadian territory, and we returned fire with the same force using artillery," he said.

NMRD operate along Chad-Sudan border

The NMRD operate along the Chad-Sudan border. The long border between Chad and Sudan is porous and many tribes span the frontier. Deby himself took power in 1990 in an uprising he launched from Darfur.

Abdallah said Chadian rebels, led by Mahamat Nour, had fought alongside the Sudanese armed forces in the attack. "We don't understand why they are doing this. We have no problem with Mahamat Nour," he said.

United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) Chadian rebels, led by Mahamat Nour

Nour leads an alliance of Chadian insurgents called the United Front for Democratic Change, known as FUC. His group attacked the Chadian border town of Adre in December and are sworn to depose Deby.

Nour denied involvement in the clashes. "Our forces were nearby but they did not participate in the attack," he told Reuters by telephone from eastern Chad.

Sudan arrested 20 Chadian rebels in Khartoum last week, including one leader. Nour said they had been released and had left the Sudanese capital.

Sudan denies supporting the Chadian rebels. The rebels declined to say why they were in Khartoum, but Nour had written a letter requesting that his group be given an audience at an African Union summit in Khartoum on Monday.

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Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, W Darfur

Sudan accused Chad of bombarding an area in its western border state of West Darfur and said its army had retaliated January 28, 2006, reports SAPA:

"The area of Armankul northwest of the town of Geneina, capital of West Darfur state, came under artillery shelling that continued for an hour and a half from inside the Chadian territories," military spokesman Gen. Abbas Adul Rahaman Khalifa said in a brief statement carried by the official news agency, SUNA.

He did not specify whether the attack was carried out by Chadian soldiers or a rebel group. "Our armed forces have dealt with this aggression with a retaliation in preservation of the sovereignty of the national territories and safeguarding the lives of Sudanese subjects," Khalifa said.

Further reading:

Jan 24, 2006 Sudan's SLA rebels launch attack in Golo, West Darfur - Note Eric Reeves' analysis March 17, 2005 re third Darfuri rebel group NMRD

Jan 25, 2006 Hundreds of Sudanese flee upsurge of violence in West Darfur after unidentified armed men attacked the town of Guereda - UN Refugee Agency

Jan 25, 2006 Splintering of rebel groups? Nur's forces captured aid workers? UN helicopter crashes near Golo, West Darfur

Jan 29, 2006 ST/AFP Sudan alleges new Chad army incursion - Sudanese army spokesman General Al-Abbas Abdelrahman Khalifa said in a statement that a Chadian unit backed by artillery attacked a Sudanese position 40 kilometres (24 miles) northwest of Geneina in West Darfur state on Saturday.