Darfur group says government breaks ceasefire

KHARTOUM, Nov 21 (Reuters) A group of former rebels in Darfur accused the government today of violating a ceasefire by launching joint attacks with militia that killed up to 80 civilians in South Darfur.

A Sudanese army spokesman said he had no information of any attack in the area of Um Beyy in the eastern region of South Darfur and denied any arming or support of militias.

A spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), the only one of three rebel factions to sign a May peace accord with the government, warned Khartoum that if the attacks continued, their relations would return to ''square one.'' ''Yesterday (Saturday) Janjaweed militia supported by the government attacked Um Beyy in South Darfur killing 80 civilians,'' said Al-Tayyib Khamis, a SLM spokesman.

He said the militia, known locally as Janjaweed, were using vehicles and arms given to them by the government. ''The government is not committed to the peace agreement.

''If they continue their attacks we will return to square one,'' he said. He declined to elaborate on what he meant.

An army spokesman denied any involvement in the attack.

''We don't even have any information that there was an attack so of course we were not involved,'' the spokesman said.

The African Union, charged with monitoring the widely-ignored Darfur truce, could not immediately give any information on the attack.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of marginalising the remote west. Khartoum mobilised tribal militias to quell the revolt.

Those militias stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage which Washington calls genocide. Khartoum denies genocide and any links to the Janjaweed, who they call bandits.

Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced to flee their homes to miserable squatter camps in Darfur.

The crisis prompted the world's largest aid operation with 14,000 staff.

Senior UN official Jan Egeland has warned that a military build-up and ongoing clashes in Darfur since the May deal are threatening the humanitarian operation which he says has prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths among civilians.

Khartoum rejects a UN Security Council authorising some 22,500 U.N. troops and police to deploy to Darfur, saying it is a Western attempt at recolonisation. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

REUTERS PDM KN1705