A US-based human rights group has claimed that 81 civilians in the war-affected Western Darfur region Sudan were last week massacred by Arab militia groups aligned with the Sudanese government. The Center for the Prevention of Genocide (CPG) said it had received confirmation that the massacres were perpetrated by the Janjaweed militia, during an attack on the town of Shatatya and its surrounding villages on 10 February. Sources also reported the abduction of 32 teenaged girls by government forces, in Mugjar, a town currently inundated by thousands of internally displaced persons in the Wadi Salih area (near the border with Chad), CPG said in a statement. "Despite government attempts to conceal the brutal nature of the recurrent violence, sources in Darfur continue to come forward with reports of abuse," it said. However, the Sudanese ambassador to Uganda has denied any government involvement in the massacres.
The ambassador, Siraj al-Din Hamid, told IRIN from the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that sanctioning militia attacks on civilians contradicted his government’s overall objective of bringing stability to the region. "The government cannot initiate attacks against people," Siraj al-Din said. "These things are just ignited. It could be about cattle or land, but it has nothing to do with the government or the rebel groups," he added. |