Africa News Digest
Insurrectionary 'Splinter Groups' Pop Up in Darfur
African Union and UN officials said Oct. 24 that two new insurrectionary factions have emerged in Darfur.
The National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD), a split-off from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), is operating in the Tine area on the Sudan-Chad border. NMRD said Oct. 25 that it had launched an attack on a government convoy Oct. 6, to dramatize its demand for a seat at the negotiating table in Abuja, Nigeria. One of its leaders, Hassan Khames Grow, said, "If we are not invited, we will continue to attack the government." Since they are not part of the (often broken) truce in Darfur, they say the safety of the African Union's military observers there is "not guaranteed."
Another group has appeared further south, near the city of Nyala, according to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative, Jan Pronk.
Of the two splinter groups, Pronk said, "At the beginning I thought they were an artificial creation, but now I think it's more serious. You need to take them into consideration as a power."
Russia Bans Sales of Weapons to Non-Government Bodies in Sudan
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning the sale of weapons to non-government bodies in Sudan, to take effect Oct. 25. The ban is designed to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1556 of July 30. MosNews comments that Putin was responding to fears that Russian weapons were being used by the Janjaweed to kill civilians.
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