SUDAN:GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT were bombing targets in Darfur even while the Sudanese president toured the wartorn region on a mission of peace, rebel sources have said, writes Rob Crilly.
A commander with a government-allied faction of the Sudan Liberation Army said three people died in an attack on a village in South Darfur on Wednesday.
At about the same time, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was addressing 20,000 people in Nyala, the regional capital, with a message of peace and promises of development. He is waiting to find out if he will face charges of genocide, murder and crimes against humanity after the International Criminal Court's prosecutor last week outlined the case against him.
Mr Bashir's visit to Darfur this week was designed to help cement a coalition of allies who have promised to support Sudan at the United Nations. "We want to send this message to the world: we are the people of peace, we want peace . . . we are the only ones who can achieve peace in Darfur," he said during the two-day tour.
But yesterday Mohamed Dirbeen, military spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement, told Reuters: "Government planes were bombing the village Karbala 40km [25 miles] south of El Fasher. The bombing killed three people and injured eight."
The attack will confirm the sceptics' view that Mr Bashir's trip was nothing more than a publicity stunt by a man facing arrest for his role in the Darfur violence.
His trip ended on Thursday. In the morning he opened a school, clinic and power station in Nyala amid chaotic scenes before travelling on to El Geneina, capital of West Darfur. Several hundred cars, pick-ups and buses crammed with government officials, international diplomats and journalists followed his whistlestop tour.
Mr Bashir travelled with heavy security. He was followed by pick-ups fitted with heavy machine guns, while helicopter gunships circled overhead. Snipers watched proceedings from roofs at each of his rallies. The president stayed well away from the sprawling aid camps where rebels command overwhelming support.
An aid worker in Darfur reported that the scenes of celebration were carefully stage managed. Too Huge World, a blogger who posts anonymously for fear of reprisals, said people were being paid to attend the rallies. "Bashir's lackeys are sending buses and trucks to pick up people from all the surrounding villages," he said.
No one was available from the Sudanese Armed Forces to confirm or deny recent attacks.
A spokesman for a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping mission said it had received reports of daily bombing during the past week, but could not confirm the Karbala incident."We do not have forces in those areas," said spokesman George Ola-Davies.