Rebel alliance seizes Darfur border area

The Sudanese army announced on Monday that rebels in the Darfur region have taken control of a border area and raised a flag of the Revolutionary Front, an alliance bringing together four armed rebel movements of Darfur. "Some rebel forces, belonging to the Darfur movements, grouped in al-Riqaibat area, some 10 km north of Samaha area in Bahral- Arab in East Darfur state, and established a camp," a Sudanese army spokesman said. "The rebels hoisted a flag of the so-called Revolutionary Front and established a fee-collecting point which is a clear aggression against the citizens and an attempt to legalise the looting of their money," he added. Saad further reiterated that the Sudanese army would not tolerate this "flagrant aggression" and that the army would decisively deal with this situation. For his part, the vice-governor of East Darfur Abdelmajid al-Zaher said to Arabstoday that the area seized by the Revolutionary Front is not inhabited, stressing that the security situation in East Darfur is stable and no activity for the rebel movements was recorded over the last few months. Samaha area in East Darfur State, on the Sudan-South Sudan border, was one of the five disputed areas between the two countries, but it was included within the Sudanese territories according to the latest Sudan-South Sudan accord signed in Addis Ababa late in September. The revolutionary front is an alliance bringing together three Darfur rebel groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM) and the two factions of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA): one led by Minni Minnawi, and the other led by Abdelwahed Nour, as well as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the northern sector. Violence escalated in the Darfur region in the past two months. The UN-African Union Mission in Darfur has expressed concerns over the mounting violence in the region and urged the conflicting parties to avoid whatever might threaten the fragile peace in the restive region.