- Title: SUDAN: REBEL SLA COMMANDER KHAMIS ABDALLA IN THE VILLAGE OF GUNDU IN DARFUR
- Date: 18th August 2004
- Summary: (W8) GUNDU, SUDAN (AUGUST 18, 2004)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRAVEL: SLA FIGHTERS ON HORSE WITH GUNS ARRIVING AT GUNDU VILLAGE. (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. WS: SLA COMMANDER KHAMIS ABDALLA ENTERING VILLAGE ON HORSE. 0.15 3. TRAVEL: SLA FIGHTERS WALKING IN VILLAGE. O.21 4. WS: SLA REBELS WALKING THROUGH DESTROYED HUTS. 0.28 5. SCU: SLA
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GUNDU, SUDAN
- Country: Sudan
- Reuters ID: LVAAQZATIZI8EAFZEWHVK4E8U2J0
- Story Text: Mood mixed among Darfur rebels ahead of talks.
A Sudanese rebel commander in a camp in Darfur
tells his troops he is hoping for peace. But just a few
hours march away, young men say they are convinced Sudan
wants to drive them off the land.
Such is the mood in Darfur ahead of peace talks in
Nigeria starting on Monday, that the rebels here are
expressing a mix of optimism and deep scepticism.
Rebel commander Khamis Abdalla, in charge of 350 Sudan
Liberation Army (SLA) fighters near Sudan's border with
Chad, said on Friday after addressing his troops that he
hoped the conference in Abuja would be good.
But a few hours' march from Abdalla's camp, through
tall grass and across dried-up river beds, young men from
an allied rebel group said they believed Sudan wanted to
hound them off the land to exploit riches below the
surface.
The two rebel groups in Darfur took up arms at the
start of 2003 in the region, the size of France, where
African villagers vie with nomadic Arab horsemen for meagre
resources.
Since the fighting started, up to 50,000 people have
died and more than a million driven from their homes,
mostly into camps dotted across Darfur and neighbouring
Chad.
Chad mediated a truce between the government and the
rebels in April. Sudan then pledged in July to disarm Arab
militias, known as the Janjaweed, who have been attacking
villagers but both sides have since accused each other of
violence.
Refugees from Darfur are trickling into Chad
complaining of more attacks by the Janjaweed. Under intense
international pressure, all sides agreed this month to hold
another round of peace talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
Near Abdalla's camp, a shower transformed a dried-up
river bed into a raging torrent, highlighting the
difficulties rebels, government troops and aid workers face
moving around Darfur in the rainy season.
Sitting on a branch back in the camp, a young boy,
Khamis Idriss Abacar, clutched an assault rifle as he
talked. He said he was 16, but looked far younger.
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