Darfur - Ceasefire Holding, Except for Repeated Attacks

by Michael Kleinman

Published November 17, 2008 @ 03:32PM PST

As my co-blogger Michelle reported, the unilateral Darfur ceasefire announced last week by Sudanese President Omar Bashir seems to be somewhat lacking.

In a rare display of unanimity, different rebel factions all reported attacks by the Sudanese military over the past few days. A statement released Saturday by one faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) described attacks around the villages of Kurbia and Umraik in North Darfur:

"Yesterday they [the Sudanese military] started bombing from the morning. The Antonovs were moving from 7:00 am to midday. There were also bombings for two days before."

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) echoed accusations that the Sudanese military had bombed Kurbia, which anonymous UN sources have also confirmed.  Meanwhile, a different faction of the SLA reported Government attacks in the Diso area.

JEM also reported that the Sudanese military had attacked one of its bases on the Chadian border.

For its part, the Sudanese Government denied the bombings, while also claiming that the army had fought off bandits attacking a relief convoy.

Continued after the jump:

According to Reuters:

"A senior official with Sudan's dominant National Congress Party told reporters Friday's fighting did not amount to a breach of the ceasefire as the agreement did not cover bands of armed robbers who have proliferated in lawless Darfur during its near six-year conflict."

To make matters even more confusing, the UN has unconfirmed reports that the rebels also attacked a Government base on Saturday.

So, to sum up - it seems a very Sudanese ceasefire.  Also a perfect illustration of why humanitarian access has fallen to its lowest level since October 2006.  As the UN recently reported: "Insecurity prevented access to 250,000 in September; the highest so far this year."

For more information about the humanitarian situation in Darfur, see here.

[N.B. To give credit where credit is due, Michelle predicted the ceasefire wouldn't last.]

Random quote: "How dull it is to pause, to make an end / To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! / As tho' to breath were life.  Life piled on life / Were all too little, and of one to me / Little remains: but every hour is saved / From that eternal silence, something more / a bringer of new things; and while it were / For some three suns to store and hoard myself / And this gray spirit yearning in desire / To follow knowledge like a sinking star / Beyond the utmost bound of human thought." (Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses)

[Photo of JEM rebels from AFP / Getty Images]