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Sudan launches air attack says african union Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=640883 http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=640883 Sudan launches air attacks says AU Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:12 AM ET By Camillus Eboh ABUJA (Reuters) - The Sudanese government has failed to comply with a deadline to stop fighting in Darfur, an African Union spokesman says, describing fresh helicopter strikes against a village in south Darfur state. The AU force commander in Darfur, Nigerian General Festus Okonkwo, told mediators government forces attacked the village of Labado on Saturday, Assane Ba said on Sunday. "Things have changed, the latest report from General Okonkwo is that the Sudan government has not complied. He said government helicopters attacked Labado and burned the place yesterday," Ba told Reuters. Okonkwo had earlier said the Sudanese government was complying with the 24-hour deadline which expired on Saturday. Labado, which had been in control of the rebels, is about 65 km (40 miles) east of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state. Thousands of Darfuris are fleeing the fighting, streaming towards Nyala town from the east, bringing reports of government bombardment with helicopters and Antonovs. They say government forces and Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, attacked their villages and in some cases set up bases there. Sources in the aid community in Darfur say rebels have been attacking aid and goods convoys along the Nyala to-El-Fasher road, where two Save the Children workers were killed recently. Many of the villages along this road to the east were rebel strongholds before intense fighting in the past week. The offensive began after the government said rebels attacked a convoy of 500 government troops on a routine patrol in the area. ROAD IS VITAL LINK "This road is vital to the Sudanese government as it links their troops to supply routes from Khartoum," one source said, asking not to be named. "The government seems to be in a big push to clear a safe area around this road and the road to Ed-Daien." The United Nations has closed many of the roads out of Nyala to aid traffic. The World Food Programme says at least 160,000 people are cut off, a number the say could increase if the fighting spreads. Ba said the AU was trying to persuade the feuding parties to stop ceasefire violations and allow a restart of the peace talks which were suspended a week ago. The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels left the talks to protest a renewed government offensive on their positions. The rebels said they hoped the AU and the international community would persuade the Sudanese government to halt its military campaign and pursue a political solution. "We are waiting for the AU, we will give them a reasonable time to persuade the government. But if the attacks continue, we will be forced at some point to answer the Sudan government," JEM's Tajeddin Bashir Niam told Reuters. Niam said there were indications that the government troops were advancing from Labado to other towns. "It seems that the whole process is collapsing and we are going back to square one because of the arrogance of the Sudan government," Niam said. POISED FOR ATTACK The 53-member AU on Friday reported huge quantities of arms had poured into Darfur and that the government was poised for a major military offensive. The United States, Britain and the United Nations weighed in with warnings to Khartoum and the rebels. Sudan said on Saturday its troops would pull back on condition the rebels withdraw from areas they had entered since an April ceasefire. They also called on rebels to stop attacks on relief organisations, civilians, and state properties. A top Sudanese official said government forces would never withdraw from Darfur as a whole because a U.N. Security Council resolution gave the government security responsibility there. The rebels took up arms in early 2003 after years of tribal skirmishes over scarce resources in Darfur, accusing Khartoum of marginalisation. The conflict has displaced 1.6 million people and killed tens of thousands since it first broke out. The United Nations has said Darfur, an area the size of France, is suffering from one of the world's worst humanitarian crises with 2.3 million people in need of aid.

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