Trouble flares in Darfur as Rwandan peacekeepers killed
Gunmen have killed five Rwandan soldiers in an attack on international peacekeepers in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, where rebel black Africans say government troops back Arab militias in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Aid agencies say the violence has killed about 300,000 people since 2003, and driven some 2.7 million from their homes. The attacks are often conducted by assailants on horseback and in vehicles mounted with automatic weapons. The government denies these figures, saying some 10,000 people have been killed in fighting. In another attack gunmen fired on a convoy of Rwandan troops, suggesting the attackers might have been trying to steal military vehicles. Some 22 peacekeepers have been killed since January 2008, but the latest deaths are part of an upsurge in violence in Darfur after a lengthy lull since fighting began in 2003. Banditry and kidnapping of foreign aid workers continue to hamper efforts to stabilise the vast and arid region. Read more: AP, CNN
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