KHARTOUM, 26 November 2004 — One of the main rebel groups in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region pledged yesterday to fully respect a truce with Khartoum amid a flurry of contradictory statements and international concern about an escalation in fighting.

“The SLM is committed to fully respecting the truce and all the agreements reached since the cease-fire,” Sudan Liberation Movement leader Abdel Wahid Mohammed Al-Nur told AFP in Cairo.

Rebels signed a deal with the government in Khartoum to end hostilities last year, followed up by a security protocol signed in Abuja earlier this month after 21 months of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias.

“We say to humanitarian organizations that the SLM is ready to guarantee to them the security to continue working in Darfur,” Nur added.

His comments came a day after a spokesman for the group said it considered the truce accords null and void — triggering one state in the Darfur region to go on “maximum alert”.

The conflict began in February 2003 when rebels rose up against what they allege is the political and economic marginalization of black Africans by the Arab-led government.

Khartoum’s response was to unleash the Arab Janjaweed, who have been blamed by Western officials and aid workers for killings, rape and widespread violations of human rights.

More than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the area, according to the United Nations, and another 1.5 million have been displaced.

On Wednesday, SLM London-based spokesman Mahjoub Hussein said the group considered truce deals signed with Khartoum null and void, warning that it would resume fighting and seek to oust the government.

“All the war now is starting again,” he said. “We are ready for everything.”

Each side in the conflict, which the United Nations says has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, has repeatedly accused the other of violating the cease-fire.

The recent escalation of fighting has cast doubt on whether a scheduled meeting of a joint cease-fire observation committee in Chad yesterday would take place.

The United States has accused Khartoum of carrying out “genocide” through its proxy militias and on Wednesday demanded the immediate end to unrest in Darfur.

“The United States strongly condemns the escalating violence and continued cease-fire violations taking place in Darfur,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

“This fighting must stop immediately,” he said, branding the violence “a clear violation” of cease-fire and security deals.

“The latest incidents of violence were instigated by the Sudan Liberation Movement Army, and they have resulted in the suspension of humanitarian activities in the areas of fighting,” he said.

“This has caused increased suffering to the civilian population, and our message to the Sudan Liberation Movement Army is clear. The international community expects that all violence stop and agreements reached be honored.”

Ereli urged all parties in Sudan to cooperate with the 3,000-strong African Union force deployed in Darfur to monitor the cease-fire.

But a pro-government media service in Khartoum said that 15 rebels were killed by Arab tribesmen after they attacked a village in South Darfur on Wednesday, killing an unknown number of civilians.

The report by the Sudanese Media Center could not be confirmed immediately.

Meanwhile, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross was due in Khartoum later yesterday for talks on the conflict before a visit to Darfur to see the situation at first hand.