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Darfur rebel groups target AU troops
11 Oct 2005 20:07:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
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By Opheera McDoom TINE, Sudan/Chad border, Oct 11 (Reuters) - African Union troops released after a two-day hostage ordeal in Sudan's Darfur region said on Tuesday they were committed to preserving peace in the troubled desert area despite rebel threats against them. Navigating barely visible dirt tracks through rocky desert along the Chadian-Sudanese border, an African Union patrol was suddenly descended upon by armed men who surrounded their cars feigning friendliness. But the fighters from a breakaway faction of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) instead abducted some of the AU team, firing into the air as they left. "Initially I was somehow scared," said AU civilian policewoman Lydia Sabah, one of two women kidnapped. "But I remembered that my father always told me 'when I pass through the fire I shall not be burnt,' and from then I had more confidence." The 38 hostages, including a U.S. observer, were all eventually released on Monday following a showdown between rival rebel factions, which killed and wounded four members of the mainstream JEM. A local JEM commander had been negotiating for the release of the hostages. The JEM breakaway group which held the hostages was demanding a seat at AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja. "They told me they wanted to be recognised by the African Union and to be at the Abuja talks," patrol leader Martin Mbara said, a day after his release in his base in the border town of Tine. The rebels held Mbara overnight in a small village. AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said the mission in Sudan rejected any attempt to use force to further political aims. "We want to be part of the solution, not part of the conflict," he said. But there was a serious twist to the attack as another rebel group, the National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD), also not present at Abuja, coordinated an ambush of the AU rescue team sent to retrieve the hostages, finally bringing the total held to 38, witnesses said. Some of the AU troops who were released walked for five hours in the dark to freedom. A 6,000-strong AU force is deployed in Darfur to monitor a shaky ceasefire signed in April 2004. But rebel splits mean the two main Darfur rebel groups at Abuja peace talks, JEM and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), now do not control hundreds of fighters on the ground. None of the AU team was hurt in the kidnapping, but the force on Saturday suffered its first casualties after more than a year operating in the arid region. Five AU troops and workers were killed in an ambush in South Darfur. Two soldiers are still missing. The AU said it was extremely concerned at the "shoot to kill" policy being employed against its troops, a neutral force. The apparent coordination between two rebel groups in Darfur both targeting the AU worried some of the force in Tine. "I'm not going out any further than the camp to the airstrip and back now," said one soldier who was kidnapped. Others were steadfast in their intention to perform their duties as normal, despite the rebel threats still hanging over them. "I cannot ensure that it doesn't happen but we will continue to fulfil our mission," area commander Abdoulay Dallio told Reuters. He said the rebels didn't understand why the AU was present. "I hope very much they will change their minds and accept the AU mission as it is because we are seeking peace," Dallio said. "They know very well that we are protection forces and we are there for peace and this mission will ... go always forward." But Mbara, one of the last hostages to be freed, said he was not too worried. "They didn't intend to kill us, they didn't torture us -- they just wanted recognition and we were negotiating with them," he said.
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