Armed Militia Savagely Attack Darfur Village

UN, African Union Condemn ‘Savage Attack’ On Darfur Village By Armed Militia

United Nations and African Union representatives today condemned a “senseless and pre-meditated savage attack” Thursday on a town in the western Darfur area of Sudan by more than 350 armed militia while the Government dragged its heels in designating land for the AU monitoring force meant to deter such incidents.

Having learnt “with utter shock and disbelief” of the relentless daylong attack on Khor Abeche by armed militia of the Miseriyya tribe of Niteaga, “we condemn this senseless and pre-meditated savage attack,” Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and AU Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe said in a joint statement.

Nasir Al Tijani Adel Kaadir was identified as having commanded the initial force of over 200 on horses and camels and they were later reinforced by a further 150, also from Niteaga, they said in a statement.

His name and those of his collaborators would be sent to the UN Security Council sanctions committee to be brought to justice and they expected the Sudanese Government to take appropriate action, the two said.

The attackers “rampaged through the village, killing, burning and destroying everything in their paths and leaving in their wake total destruction with only the mosque and the school spared,” their statement said.

“This attack, the savagery of which has not been seen since the sacking of Hamada in January 2005, was apparently in retaliation for the alleged theft of 150 cattle whose tracks were supposedly traced to Khor Abeche village,” Mr. Pronk and Mr. Kingibe said.

They noted that since 3 April the AU had prepared to deploy troops in Niteaga and Khor Abeche to deter precisely this kind of attack, “but was prevented from acting by what can only be inferred as deliberate official procrastination over the allocation of land for the troops’ accommodation.”

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