Sudanese forces fight JEM rebel holdouts in Jabel Moun area on Sudan-Chad border

The UN and AU have condemned the Sudanese army and militia troops for attacking rebels in Darfur's Jebel Moon area, BBC news reported today. Excerpt:

The attack was against the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, (JEM) which did not sign the [Darfur peace] deal.

Both government and militia troops had been observed massing near the western town of Geneina before the attack on Friday.

An assortment of armed groups that remained outside of the peace agreement, including Chadian elements, are known to be taking shelter in the Jebel Moon mountains.

The attack is confirmation that Darfur's conflict has changed in nature, the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports from Sudan.

JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam said the Sudanese government was systematically attacking groups who had refused to sign for peace.

Note, the BBC report says the two signatories to the peace agreement - the government and the SLA-Minnawi - are using the agreement as a springboard to attack those outside the deal. I see it as the signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement combining forces to implement the deal and defend against those who are out to ruin the agreement.

July 29 2006 (Reuters Opheera McDoom) Sources say Sudan forces attack rebel bases: "Yesterday (Friday) all day and until the evening the government of Sudan with the Janjaweed attacked Jabel Moun and Kulkul, north of el-Fasher," Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, a rebel NRF commander, told Reuters from Darfur on Saturday. Jabel Moun is a mountainous area on the Sudan-Chad border. Kulkul is 35 km (22 miles) north of Darfur's main town el-Fasher.