Eight die in Darfur shoot-out - official / Aid workers in Darfur continue to be target of attacks, reports UN mission
Two somewhat-related stories:
From Reuters (also here)...
Eight people were killed in a shoot-out between Sudanese government forces and former rebels in the Darfur town of Nyala, a day before it was visited by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, officials said on Wednesday.
Shooting broke out between fighters loyal to the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Minni Arcua Minnawi and government personnel late on Tuesday, said a diplomatic source who asked not to be named.
The United Nations confirmed [that] it received reports of fighting in downtown Nyala soon after 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday night.
"The reports are that eight people in total were killed, and [that] there was an unspecified number of people injured," said a U.N. spokeswoman.
"The reports were that the fighting was between SLM Minni Minnawi and the government."
She added [that] it was unclear whether it was the police or the army that was involved on the government side.
No one was available for comment from Sudan's armed forces.
The SLM Minnawi faction was the only Darfur rebel group to sign a peace deal with Sudan's government last year. But relations between the faction and the authorities have deteriorated.
The SLM-Minnawi faction last month accused Khartoum of arming and training forces of a tribal militia who have killed 170 civilians in South Darfur. Khartoum denied the charges.
The confrontation happened just ahead of a visit to the South Darfur capital by anti-apartheid hero Tutu, who was touring Darfur with a party of elder statesman.
It was the second violent incident reported in recent days in the town, which in the past was seen as a relatively secure base for aid workers and Darfuris.
The United Nations reported that armed men seized two aid workers and hijacked their vehicle on Sunday, just 20 metres (66 feet) from their agency's base in Nyala. The two workers were released on Tuesday, one with a severe head wound.
Two aid vehicles were also hijacked in North Darfur on Monday, one in the centre of the region's main town of el-Fasher, which was also visited by Tutu and other elders, including former President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday.
The driver of one of the stolen aid vehicles was still missing, the U.N. said.
Experts say [that] 200,000 have died in more than four years of fighting in Darfur and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes -- figures that Khartoum disputes.
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reports that attacks against humanitarian personnel are continuing in Darfur, where some 13,000 relief workers are trying to assist nearly four million people affected by violence.
A vehicle belonging to a non-governmental organization (NGO) was hijacked by armed bandits on Monday in the area of the Kassab camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur. The driver of the vehicle, who was taken by the hijackers together with the truck, has been located, but the vehicle is still missing. Three armed men hijacked at gunpoint a UN vehicle in El Fasher on the same day. Sudanese police pursued the hijackers, but their attempt to stop the vehicle was unsuccessful. Efforts are ongoing to recover the vehicle.
Meanwhile, in South Darfur, three armed men hijacked a NGO vehicle in Nyala on 30 September. Two staff members on board the vehicle were forcibly taken and detained for three days by the hijackers.
They were subsequently released and contacted the NGO on 2 October from a police station some 30 kilometres north of Nyala. One staff member was admitted to Nyala hospital for with serious head injury.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), attacks against the relief community have increased by 150 per cent in the past year, threatening the lifeline to an ever-increasing number of people affected by the fighting which began four years ago between the Sudanese Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias, and rebel groups.
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