Sudanese warplanes bomb Darfur rebels

Sudanese warplanes on Wednesday bombed Darfur rebels in the south of the war-torn region, said an army spokesman and a commander from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

Antonov bombers struck near Muhajaria, a village in South Darfur state which is a stronghold of a rival rebel group that signed a peace agreement with Khartoum in an increasingly complex and frayed six-year insurgency.

"We bombed a group of rebels, who have no (peace) agreement with us in order to protect the lives of civilians. This is the army's job, to secure the lives of civilians," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled told AFP.

Ali Wafi, a field commander from JEM, which last May marked history by becoming the first regional Sudanese rebel group to attack the capital, said the movement was trying to assess the casualties.

"Today the army bombed our troops near Muhajaria from Antonovs. So far we don't have a clear number of people who were killed or wounded," he told AFP by satellite phone, saying that he was speaking from Darfur.

The bombing came as African and Arab ministers convened in Qatar in a bid to halt international legal proceedings against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accused on 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague are widely expected to decide as early as this month whether to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir, in a move that his African and Arab allies say will sink peace efforts.

U.N. officials estimate that up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since February 2003, when JEM and another Darfur rebel group rose up against the government demanding resources and power.

Sudan, whose government has been heavily criticized in the West for brutally trying to suppress the uprising, and unleashing Arab proxy militias, insists the death toll stands at 10,000 and dismisses other statistics as a conspiracy.

Today the army bombed our troops near Muhajaria from Antonovs. So far we don't have a clear number of people who were killed or wounded

Ali Wafi

Bashir urged to surrender

Earlier in the week an influential opposition leader on Monday called on Sudan's president to hand himself over to the International Criminal Court, saying he should take responsibility for war crimes in Darfur.

The call from Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi was the first significant show of dissent from within Sudan's political system over possible war crimes charges against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Politicians have previously been united in opposing them.

The global court's chief prosecutor asked judges in July to issue an arrest warrant against Bashir, accusing him of genocide and other war crimes. The judges are expected to decide within weeks whether Bashir has a case to answer.

Turabi told reporters Bashir should surrender himself to save Sudan from sanctions and political turmoil that would follow if the president defied the court and carried on ruling as a wanted man.

Turabi, once close to Osama bin Laden, has been a central figure for decades and repeatedly detained and imprisoned. He was the spiritual mentor behind Bashir's government when it took power in a 1989 coup, but the men later fell out.