‘Government shelling’ in C. Darfur town continue, man killed

Witnesses and a rebel group affirm that the government shelling on Golo, a central town in West Jebel Marra, Central Darfur, continues for a second day on Tuesday. A man was reportedly killed as a result of the gunfire.Several people are fleeing Golo’s neighboring villages, such as Kemin, Gorne, Boronga, which were also targeted by the missiles, one of the victims told Radio Dabanga.He further said that after the shelling the government sent “heavily armed vehicles” to areas surrounding Golo injuring many citizens and livestock.Sources could not yet assess the amount of casualties as they are still on the run.  Strange outfits Witnesses escaping to Nertiti are claiming to be vulnerable to beatings and looting by pro-government militiamen on the way. According to them, three women were raped. They stressed that some of the militants who attacked them were dressed in “strange outfits, which are not normally seen in this part of Sudan”. They suggested these clothes are common in Western Sahara, West Africa. In addition, the insurgents “did not look Sudanese” and were holding “small rockets, grenades and unidentified green objects”, the displaced pointed out.SLM-AW The Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdel Wahid (SLM-AW) announced to Radio Dabanga they resisted an armed offensive by the government and its militias just four kilometers south of Golo at 2:00pm on Tuesday.Mustafa Tambour, the movement’s military spokesman, said the Sudanese army fired “several missiles” on the Kemin village before the attack south of Golo. Jacob Solomon Mohammed, 61, was killed and the secondary school student Hadi Zakaria Mohamed was injured, he said.Tambour affirmed the government army and its militias suffered casualties and had some of their equipment seized by the rebels. It is not yet clear how many were killed or wounded.The rebels claim to have chased the Sudanese army and militias until near Gorne and Nertiti.Radio Dabanga was unable to contact the spokesman of the Sudanese army for comments.SLM-MM Separately, SLM-Minni Minnawi spokesman Adam Saleh announced the group ambushed a government convoy around Wadi Umm Kitra, east Tabit, North Darfur on Tuesday afternoon.He claims the movement killed 11 government troops and wounded a few others, besides capturing three soldiers and seizing three Land Cruisers.30.000 displacedThe UN estimated that more than 30.000 people fled their homes as a result of the fighting between the Darfur rebel group SLM-AW and the Sudanese government that erupted on 23 December 2012 around Golo and Jildu garrison. On 15 January, residents of the Jildu garrison area told Radio Dabanga they had not heard sounds of gunshots or of government airplanes flying over the region for the past two days. They suggested the battles could have subdued.However, on Monday the SLM-AW claimed government forces fired six long-range missiles on Golo, killing a girl and injuring two others.File photo (Azhari Guda / NubaReports.org)Related: ‘Government missile’ kills young girl in Golo, C. Darfur (4 February 2013)