• Janjaweed militia battle with Sudanese rebel forces and Chadian army • Refugees described Janjaweed force attack 6am on Friday, Senette • Sudanese rebel leaders say continuing to observe the ceasefire in Darfur
Key quote "The humanitarian situation is terrible so we are observing the ceasefire for our people to get help but there is a point where we can’t keep folding our arms and seeing things going from bad to worse," - Bahar Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army.
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SUDANESE government-backed gunmen have clashed with Chadian army units after crossing the border to kill refugees who have fled the genocide in Darfur and sought sanctuary on land belonging to their western neighbour.
Janjaweed militiamen have fought gun battles with Sudanese rebel forces, who are attempting to protect the refugees, and with Chadian army soldiers inside Chad during the past two weeks. In one clash, four refugees were killed along with a number of Chadian soldiers and an unknown number of militia. The last incursion by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia backed by the Khartoum government, happened last Friday at Senette, just inside the Chadian border.
Yesterday, refugees camped at a wadi at Senette described how a large Janjaweed force rode into the nearby village on horseback at 6am on Friday, firing at people as they came out of their houses, and stealing livestock.
Some of the refugees had weapons and they returned fire with AK-47 rifles. The sound of the shooting attracted the attention of a Chadian army unit, whose members arrived in five vehicles and engaged the militia.
One man, Suleman Abdullah Ibrahim, said: "They were shooting at the Janjaweed. There was a lot of shooting and the Janjaweed rode away. Some of the Chadian soldiers were killed and some of them were wounded and some of the Janjaweed were killed too."
Members of the Sudanese rebels guarding the refugees said it was difficult to know how many Janjaweed were killed because the gunmen tied ropes around the feet of their dead and dragged them away behind their horses as they made their escape back over the border into Sudan.
UN aid agencies in the region have reported several cross-border incursions in recent days as the Janjaweed pursue the refugees into Chad.
Two weeks ago, major gun battles erupted in the area after Sudanese forces, backed by aircraft, attacked villages around the mountain of Djabal Moune, killing at least 200 people.
Eyewitnesses described seeing victims of the bombing blown apart by the force of the explosions. One man said he saw a woman set on fire by what appeared to be an inflammable liquid scattered by a bomb.
Refugees at Senette also described another attack on a village 20 miles inside Darfur last week, in which 13 people were killed, including a girl of ten who had been trying to keep the Janjaweed from stealing the cattle she was minding.
Zakaria Djimet Ibet, who found Fatouma Abdallah Adam’s body, said the Janjaweed rode into the village of Gardaya and shot a number of people, including the young girl.
"She was with her cattle. She refused to let the Janjaweed get her cattle so they shot her seven times. She tried to escape with her cattle but they shot her. They shot all over her body. When the Janjaweed left we came back and found her," he said.
The villagers attempted to fight back against the Janjaweed using swords and sticks, but they suffered casualties, he said.
Sudanese rebel leaders say they are continuing to observe the ceasefire in Darfur despite the repeated provocation. But yesterday Bahar Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army said that patience was wearing thin and the rebels would not stand by while the Sudanese government continued to wipe out the black African population of the region.
"The humanitarian situation is terrible so we are observing the ceasefire for our people to get help but there is a point where we can’t keep folding our arms and seeing things going from bad to worse," he said.
He said that the Janjaweed, whom he described as "the Sudanese government by proxy", was continuing to attack villages in Darfur, with gunmen killing nine people in Kobe last week before burning down the village.
He said more than a million people, displaced from their villages, remained inside Sudan, many in camps around the larger towns, too frightened to leave despite the appalling conditions.
"Malnutrition is rampant among the children but there is a fear that if they go out they will be attacked or the women raped and the children kidnapped. The children are really suffering," he said.
"Two weeks ago a large Janjaweed army came and attacked villages and people around Djabal Moune and some of the people ran to the mountain and some ran to the border. Some of the Janjaweed followed across the border," he said.
"The Sudanese air force came and gave air support. They were bombing with aircraft and they had helicopter gunships. Maybe 200 people died.
"Unless the ceasefire holds the situation will deteriorate and there will be no alternative but to go and to defend the villages. We are appealing to the international community to put in place the mechanisms to have peace in Darfur."
