Sudan's SLA rebels launch attack in Golo, West Darfur

According to Reuters Jan 24 the SLA launched an offensive on Golo yesterday and the Sudanese government reacted a senior African Union official was reported as saying without giving details.

The report explains Golo is a government held town in the central Jabel Marra region of Darfur that has changed hands several times in the three-year conflict.

Note, on Dec 28, 2005 ReliefWeb published a UN news report saying a number of roads in the Jabal Marra area were declared "go" areas for UN agencies on Dec, 22 2005 and that since early 2004 UN agencies had access only to Gilgo, Golo, Turrah and Rokerro by air, limiting the amount of support the UN agencies could give to NGOs in the region.

Map of Jabal Marra, West Darfur, Sudan



Click for larger image. Map courtesy HIC Field Atlas.
For map of Sudan see http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/sudan.pdf
For placename index see Darfur, Sudan Map.
For map of oil concessions see sidebar here at Sudan Watch.

Fur clan in the Jabal Marra area

UK Parliament Select Committee on International Development DRDC report Nov 2004 explains that western parts of Darfur, including the fertile landscapes surrounding the Jabal Marra massive, are the traditional home of the sedentary African groups such as Fur, Massaleet and other non-Arab tribes, and:

"It should be noted that rebellion against the government policies in Darfur started in reality in 1992 when the late Mr Daoud Yahya Bolad, a one time leading member of the ruling party of General El Bashier, became aware of the government complicity in the campaign of destruction that targets the African tribes of Darfur. Mr Bolad quietly broke ranks with the government, forged a link with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army and Movement (SPLA/M) and started organising members of his Fur clan in the Jabal Marra area. He was able to establish a western faction of the SPLA/M and get the support of some followers in the western parts of Darfur. Mr Bolad was speedily arrested and summarily executed by the security forces in 1992 and consequently his movement ceased to exist."

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National Movement for Reform and Development

This excerpt from Eric Reeves' analysis March 17, 2005 mentions a third Darfuri rebel group NMRD:

"Reuters recently reports (dispatches of March 14 and 16, 2005) on fighting between Khartoum's forces and the National Movement for Reform and Development (a third Darfuri rebel movement) in the Jabel Moun area of West Darfur. The Darfur Relief and Documentation Center (Geneva) has also recently reported in detail on intense fighting in the same area, and gives a much fuller sense of the impact of fighting on humanitarian operations:

"Lawlessness, banditry activities, violence and the threat of violence are rampant in the region with serious implications on the situation of food security in many affected areas especially in the Jabal Marra massive and Jabal Moun in West Darfur."

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Reminder of killing of AU soldier in West Darfur

British government Press Release Jan 9, 2006: The Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, and the Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman, have condemned the killing of an African Union Mission soldier in Sudan (AMIS), in an attack in West Darfur, Sudan, on 6 January by unknown assailants. Ten AMIS soldiers were also injured in the attack.