The Sudanese government has made it clear they were going to take over the Darfur town after they rejected an offer by the rebels to withdraw once peacekeeping forces arrived. But the Sudanese government in Khartoum had on Sunday asked the UN Forces in Darfur to leave before they were attacked.
According to the U.N. Officials, at least 30 people have died and thousands have been forced to flee in more than two weeks of fighting between government troops, rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and other fighters in the south Darfur settlement of Muhajiriya.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim said on Tuesday he was prepared to pull his forces out of Muhajiriya after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made an appeal. JEM took control of Muharijiriya which is around 80km from Nyala-the Darfur Capital in Mid-January, according to Reuters
"That is with one condition that the army and the government and Minni Minnawi should not come there ... It should be a non-military zone for civilians and IDPs (internally displaced people) and UNAMID," he said.
"If they come back, we will come back," he said.
The government is determined to take back the town no matter what. Since January 15 close to 30 people have died-civilians. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights- Navi Pillay has shown her concern for the people of Darfur.
"The fighting is reported to have involved ground offensives and indiscriminate aerial bombardment by government forces that failed to distinguish between civilian communities and military targets," Pillay said.
Talks are still on between the UN officials and JEM-and it is a matter of time to see how all these unfolds. The biggest fear is that the civilians will be the ones to bear the brunt in case of an attack as seen in cases like Iraq, Afghanistan and now Gaza.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He has been in power since 1989 and made headlines when in July 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, accused al-Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
As of now-he is still a candidate in the upcoming Sudanese Presidential Elections which are to take place sometime this year.
Should the Sudanese governments give up on the town and swallow their pride to keep peace and save the lives of innocent civilians?
yes, i believe that no matter what it takes...things should be done. innocent men, women and children are dying daily and it's the government's job to protect them. they are not, and they need to start and then continue. you should not start something and leave it unfinished, it makes it even more a mess then you began. it is for the sake of people that they should be doing something about it.
