Labado in Darfur taken by Sudan army and allied militias

Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), supported by the Popular Defense Forces (PDF) and another armed group, have taken control of Labado town in East Darfur which was under rebels’ control for the past two weeks, UNAMID reported on Tuesday. The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said “fierce fighting … resulted in the death of four civilians and in the wounding of six others”.For its part, the rebel group Sudan Liberation Army– Minni Minawi (SLA-MM) announced its “withdrawal” from Labado after receiving information about “heavily armed government convoys” heading towards the area.SAF troops were coming from “six different directions: North Kordofan, West, East and North Darfur, in addition to two from Nyala”, rebels military spokesman Adam Saleh Abkar disclosed, adding that Khartoum is bombing the surroundings.  The region controlled by rebels occupies an area of about 300 km2 which is being enclosed by the Sudanese army (SAF) in what rebels say is a “strategic move of Khartoum to take SLA-MM by surprise and crush” them. Abkar said SLA-MM does not want to “engage in battles against Khartoum in wide-open areas” and the “decision to withdraw was based on humanitarian grounds to preserve the safety and lives of civilians”.The spokesman believes SAF was encouraged to attack Labado following the rapprochement of Sudan and South Sudan in which they nominally agreed to stop supporting rebel movements seeking to topple or undermine their governments.In addition, “Khartoum believes that if it crushes us in Labado, the backbone of rebel forces would be destroyed. But the government is wrong because we withdrew peacefully without losing any equipment”, Abkar claimed.He also alleged that the amount of food and equipment SLA-MM seized in battles against SAF is enough to support the movement “for years to come” and it would enable rebels to fight another “300 battles” against the government.Abkar is reportedly referring to recent combats in Abugaradil, Abugonja, Labado, Muhajeriya and Donkey Deresa.Lastly, he affirmed SLA-MM did not battle against the government on Tuesday, “except in Labado where SAF was completely destroyed”.Witnesses’ accounts Local witnesses told Radio Dabanga about violent clashes between SLA-MM and SAF west of Labado that began at 12:00pm on Tuesday, adding that both sides suffered fatal casualties.“Thousands” of civilians fled the clashes in “all directions” while others were killed because they were caught in the fighting or were hit by airstrikes carried out with Antonov airplanes, Sukhoi and helicopters. Sources could hear sounds of aircrafts flying over Labado until Tuesday evening.A runaway saw two dead bodies and several cows and camels that were killed by airstrikes on his way out of Labado. He confirmed that government forces entered the town and added that a SAF convoy is now heading towards Muhajeriya.Upon entering Labado, SAF soldiers and militias started “beating and torturing civilians” besides “plundering their properties and livestock”, the source recounted.On 6 April SLA-MM reportedly captured the towns of Labado and Muhajeriya scattering thousands of civilians towards local UN bases. UNAMID had received reports that displaced were also arriving in Abu Hadid village, near Selea town in Yassin locality.According to the mission, government authorities had confirmed the rebels’ takeover of Labado and Muhajeriya.Both towns are located in strategic positions along main supply routes used by traders and humanitarians to move supplies from Khartoum through East Darfur to South Darfur, as UN OCHA describes.In line with estimates by the Sudanese government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) about 36,000 civilians fleeing the clashes have gathered around UNAMID bases in Labado and in Muhajeriya, an UN agency declared.File photo (africanarguments.org)Related: 36,000 fled East Darfur battles -Humanitarian Aid Commission (16 April 2013)