HELICOPTER gunships thudded over the dusty streets of El Fasher in North Darfur this weekend as the Sudanese government stepped up its latest offensive in defiance of a United Nations resolution.

John Prendergast, of the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organisation that reports on conflicts, described seeing burnt-out villages and speaking to refugees who had been attacked by roving bands of heavily armed men in pick-up trucks.

“Humanitarian access has shrunk dramatically in the last two months, violence has increased and on top of that already gloomy picture we have a fresh offensive,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and 2m displaced since African rebels took up arms in 2003 to protest against perceived bias from a government dominated by Arabic-speakers. Sudanese government forces armed and organised Arabic-speaking tribes into the Janjaweed militias, which raped, tortured and murdered countless civilians.

A series of peace deals has failed to hold. Minni Minnawi, one of the rebel leaders, signed the latest one in May under intense pressure from American officials, but leaders of two other factions refused.

In an echo of the divide-and-rule tactics that claimed 2m lives during Sudan’s bloody civil war in the south, Minnawi’s soldiers have since been persuaded to join forces with the government and are now fighting their former allies. Last Friday their new uniforms filled the streets of El Fasher and foreigners were warned to stay indoors.

Minnawi, a slightly built former teacher, has taken up a government post. Prendergast believes his troops are targeting civilians because of their suspected support for rebels who did not sign the agreement.

General Collins Ihekire, the Nigerian head of the African Union’s (AU) 7,000-strong peacekeeping force, believes the perception that it is implementing an unfair peace agreement is hampering its efforts even more than a lack of resources.

“They (the rebels) are not seeing us as partners in the peace process but as legitimate targets,” he said by telephone from Darfur. Two AU soldiers were killed last month in an ambush, and more attacks were expected, he added. Most of the peacekeepers had not been paid since May.

The Sudanese government has resisted United Nations calls for it to accept 21,000 UN peacekeepers and police, arguing that the current African Union force should be strengthened instead. Its mandate officially expires on September 30.

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