NAIROBI, 11 May 2004 — The main rebel group in Sudan yesterday claimed that 204 civilians have been killed in the south of the country over the last few days in renewed fighting with government forces and Khartoum-backed militias.
“I can confirm that there has been fighting around Akobo (on the border with Ethiopia). Our sources on the ground indicate that 204 civilians were killed,” Sudan People’s Liberation Army’s (SPLA) spokesman George Garang told AFP by phone.
There was no independent confirmation of the death toll but humanitarian sources said there had been fighting in the area and that wounded civilians had been evacuated to a hospital in Lokichoggio, a Kenyan town on the Sudanese border that serves as a base for humanitarian operations in southern Sudan. The SPLA spokesman stressed that the alleged cease-fire violation would not lead the SPLA to walk out of crucial peace talks with Khartoum, which have been going on in Kenya since 2002 and are nearing a conclusion.
