Sudan vows to crush Darfur rebels after killing

Khatoum, May 1: The Sudanese armed forces vowed today to ''crush'' a coalition of rebel groups in Darfur for killing an officer whose helicopter came down in north Darfur.

Rebel groups said yesterday they had shot down a government helicopter gunship that was attacking their position in north Darfur while they were preparing for unity talks that would lead to peace negotiations with the Sudanese government.

But the armed forces denied the attack took place and said they had lost contact with a helicopter sent on a reconnaissance mission in the area.

''The armed forces, while condemning this brutal and treacherous act, vow that they will strike back twice as hard ... and will crush those rebels,'' the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) quoted an armed forces statement as saying.

The statement blamed the incident on the National Redemption Front, an alliance of several rebel groups that rejected a May 2006 peace deal between Khartoum and one rebel faction.

But several groups have claimed responsibility for gunning down the aircraft, the first of which was a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) whose leader said his men held the helicopter's pilot and found the body of another officer burned.

The group identified the pilot as Lieutenant Mouaweya Huseein Mohamed.

Sudan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Al-Samani Al-Wasyla told Reuters yesterday the government was open to peace talks with the Darfur rebels but was not expected to stay idle if they attack army forces in the region.

The United Nations says some 200,000 people have died in Darfur since the conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, charging it with neglect. Sudan says only 9,000 people have perished.

Reuters>