CAIRO: The Sudanese army on Saturday attacked a village in South Darfur for a second consecutive day in violence that has left one person dead and driven at least 250 civilians from their homes, the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission said. Army units using machine guns and small arms carried out a ground assault on the village of Khor Abeche, located some 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of South Darfur's capital of Nyala, on Saturday, UNAMID spokesman Kemal Saiki. The attack, which left several housing burning, came a day after government forces clashed with rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army in the same village, Saiki said. At least one person was killed and 16 wounded in two days of violence that forced at least 250 villagers to flee and seek refuge in a nearby UNAMID camp, Saiki said. The wounded were being treated at a UNAMID clinic. In a statement, the peacekeeping mission said Khor Abeche is known to be home to supporters of elements of the Sudan Liberation Army loyal to Minni Minnawi, who signed a peace deal with the government in 2006. Earlier this month, the government accused Minnawi's group of violating the peace agreement by sending fighters to join other rebel groups in Darfur. SLA spokesman Adel Mahjoub Tayarah responded by saying that his movement considers the government allegation "a declaration of war." Darfur has been in turmoil since 2003, when ethnic African rebels accusing the Arab-dominated government of discrimination and neglect took up arms against it. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing Arab militias on civilian populations — a charge the government denies. The UN estimates 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been displaced. Fighting has subsided, but there has been a notable rise in the kidnapping of foreign aid workers. A number of peace deals and agreements have failed to end the conflict, and a current round of peace talks is bogged down by mistrust between the government and rebels, and infighting between rebel groups. The Sudan Liberation Movement splintered into two main factions in November 2005 after a power struggle between leaders Abdelwahid Elnur and Minnawi. Minnawi signed a peace deal with the Sudanese government in 2006 and was appointed a presidential adviser, a position he lost in April.
