Sudan, Rebels in New Southern Darfur Clash
Sudanese forces and rebels have clashed in southern Darfur, both sides said on Tuesday, the latest unrest in a region where the government has warned about insecurity.
Both the army and the Sudan Liberation Army's Minni Minnawi faction claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on each other in Monday's battle at Marla, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the country's second city, Nyala.
In another incident, on Sunday night, the rebels shelled "in the area" of the Nyala airport but aviation was unaffected, said Hussein Minnawi of the rebels' political bureau.
Army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad confirmed the fighting around Marla but had no immediate information about an incident near the airport.
The Marla clash is the latest reported in the area outlying Nyala.
Last week the Minnawi faction said they killed troops in an attack on the Donki Dreisa base, about 50 kilometers south of the city.
A week earlier they claimed to have moved through Ishma village, 30 kilometres east of Nyala, which is the capital of South Darfur state.
On April , 14 Vice President Ali Osman Taha "confirmed the importance of security and stability", justice and the rule of law in South Darfur, official media reported, after the state's civilian governor was replaced by a retired general.
A United Nations panel of experts said in February it had collected testimonies of insecurity, including "growing crime inside towns such as Nyala".
Rebels have been fighting for 10 years in Sudan's far-western Darfur.
While the worst of the violence has long passed, instability has been complicated by inter-Arab fighting, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes, many suspected to be the work of government-linked militia and paramilitary groups.
Security in Darfur is worsening and militias need to be disarmed, the U.S. charge d'affaires to Sudan, Joseph Stafford, said on Sunday.
Source: Agence France Presse
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