Hazia’s Reflections

A moribund Darfur peace deal was in danger of collapse on Sunday after a deadly incident between former rebels and police, as the war in the western Sudan region threatened to spread to Khartoum. The only Darfur rebel group to have signed peace with the government said it was ready to resume fighting after a shootout between some of its members and police left 11 dead in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman on Saturday.

"The attack by the police and security forces on the residence of our men was a violation of the ceasefire enshrined in the Abuja peace agreement which we have signed with the government," Tayeb Khamis, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), told AFP. "We are prepared to resume the war and from Khartoum, if the government wants to fight," said Khamis, whose group is the only one of three Darfur rebel groups to have signed the Abuja accord with Khartoum in May 2006.

According to Khamis, the incident broke out when former SLM rebels refused to hand over two of the group’s members who were wanted by the police regarding a "traffic problem" earlier in the week…… Minnawi’s SLM was one of two rebel groups that launched a revolt against the central government in western Sudan’s Darfur region in February 2003 to demand a greater share of the country’s resources. Splinter groups flourished after the peace accord and violence spiraled.

According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million displaced since the conflict erupted. Some sources say the death toll is much higher. The Khartoum regime stands accused of genocide by Washington for its repression of the Darfur rebellion and has consistently rejected the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to stem the bloodshed.