KHARTOUM - A Darfur rebel group accused the Sudanese army on Thursday of attacking its positions on the same day that the president declared the Darfur war over, and aid workers said 100,000 people had fled the surge of fighting. The attacks took place on Wednesday in at least three areas of the mountainous Jabel Marra region in central Darfur, the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) told Reuters on Thursday. The army denied that any clashes had taken place on Wednesday in Jabel Marra, which it said it controlled. The SLA said government forces had attacked its positions in at least three areas in West Darfur state, including the busy market town of Deribat. "Heavy fighting was going until late into the night," said SLA spokesman Ibrahim al-Hillu. "The government attacked in huge numbers backed up by Antonovs, helicopter gunships and MiGs (aircraft). This is the peace the government is offering." The rebel accounts will raise questions over Khartoum's recent initiatives to end the seven-year conflict in Darfur, including a ceasefire with the region's biggest rebel group. The French aid group Medecins du Monde said late on Wednesday it had been forced to suspend operations because of the fighting in Jabel Marra, but did not say who was involved. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir declared the war in Darfur over on Wednesday, announcing the release of 57 rebel captives after reaching an initial settlement with the Justice and Equality Movement, Darfur's most powerful rebel force. Bashir's government signed an agreement in Doha on Tuesday committing Sudan to reaching a final peace deal with the JEM by March 15. The SLA, led by Paris-based Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, and other rebels have rejected the Doha deal, demanding that security be restored on the ground before talks begin. In New York, the UN Security Council welcomed the deal and called in a statement for the signatories to quickly implement it in full. The 15-nation body urged all factions in Darfur to join the agreement. France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud, current president of the council, told reporters that Paris had sought for several years to persuade Nur to take part in the peace process, adding "We are still trying to convince him to join the movement."
