KHARTOUM, 8 October 2007 — A government-held town in the troubled western province of Darfur near the scene of a deadly attack on an African Union base has been razed, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said yesterday.

The town of Haskanita in south Darfur, which was destroyed on Saturday, saw a Sept. 29 attack on an African Union (AU) base that left 10 peacekeepers dead and drew worldwide condemnation.

“The town, which is currently under the control of the government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings,” UNMIS said, without specifying who was responsible or if it could have been an act of retaliation. “The market area has been looted. Few civilians had returned in search of food and water,” it said in a statement, while there was no immediate comment from the Khartoum government on the situation in Haskanita.

The civilian population fled to neighboring areas of Haskanita when the attack on the AU took place. “The mission that visited the town was not concerned with the security aspects but with the humanitarian needs of the population,” UNMIS spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said.

Two Sudanese rebel groups are suspected of being behind the attack on the base. A peace conference is scheduled in Tripoli on Oct. 27 and aims to broaden the Darfur peace agreement (DPA), which was signed in May 2006 between Khartoum and the main rebel movement, to include groups which did not sign.

A top Nigerian general has said his troops serving in the AU force in Darfur will by today have re-occupied the position where seven of their colleagues were among those killed. “To show our resolve, by Monday Nigeria will go back to occupy the position at Haskanita with strength, daring whosoever come to attack us again,” defense chief Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi said.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s Court of Appeal has refused a request to release 25 detained political opposition figures accused of plotting to overthrow the government but not charged yet, the defense team said yesterday. “The Court of Appeal refused our appeal against the renewal of their detention,” said Ali Ahmed Al-Sayyid, from the defense team of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The 25, including Umma Party for Reform and Renewal leader Mubarak Al-Fadil, his Secretary-General Abdel Jalil Al-Basha, DUP Deputy Secretary-General Ali Mahmoud Hassanein and retired police, security and army officers were arrested in July.