Rebels from Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday rejected calls to disarm their fighters before a political solution to the 18-month conflict is reached and accused the government of fresh attacks against civilians. Leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, said government forces backed by Arab Janjaweed militias had attacked two days ago in the village of Yassin, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Nyala in Southern Darfur state, killing 57 civilians. On Thurdsay morning, he said, government planes and helicopter gunships had bombed Hashaba village, west of El-Fasher in Northern Darfur state, killing three people. Sudan denied the accusation. "It is not true the rebels were attacked since they were the ones who were fighting," said Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, agriculture minister and chief negotiator in Abuja talks. At African Union-mediated peace talks in the Nigerian capital to end 18 months of revolt in remote Darfur, Sudan's government agreed to enlarge an AU force to help garrison Darfur rebels while Sudanese armed forces disarm Arab militias. --More 0005 Local Time 2105 GMT
