Sudan rebels 'attack new areas'

The government blames the violence on rebel groups

Darfur rebels have launched an attack outside the western Sudanese region of Darfur for the first time, the interior ministry says.

Eight people were killed in neighbouring West Kordofan state when rebels raided a police station and market in Ghubaysh, a statement said.

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the African Union (AU) can rapidly deploy 5,000 troops to the region, if funding is provided.

The UN has threatened oil sanctions if Khartoum does not stop the violence.

Fleeing attacks

North Darfur Governor Osman Yusif Kibir said the rebels seized four government vehicles in the raid on the village.

He said rebels also killed two students and injured a number of policemen in another attack on Wednesday 20km (12 miles) from El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur.

UN RESOLUTION Enlarged African Union (AU) monitoring force UN to investigate claims of genocide Threatens Sudan with oil sanctions if it does not disarm the militias and protect civilians Sudan to submit the names of militiamen and others arrested for human rights abuses All Sudanese parties to stop human rights violations Aid worker's diary

It is not clear which of the two rebel groups in Darfur is said to have carried out these attacks.

According to the BBC's Alfred Taban in El-Fashir, neither rebel representative on the ceasefire monitoring group in the region was willing to discuss the attacks.

More than a million black Africans have been driven from their homes in Darfur and up to 50,000 have been killed since the conflict erupted last year.

The Sudanese government denies accusations that it has backed the Arab Janjaweed militia and blames the violence on two rebel groups, who took up arms accusing the government of ignoring the region.

The government has responded to international pressure to end the violence by sending thousands of extra police officers to Darfur.

But despite this move people are still fleeing attacks, which they blame on the Janjaweed, our correspondent says.

The population of Zam Zam camp, near El-Fashir, has risen from 15,000 in June to some 33,000 people because of insecurity outside the camps.

"Atrocities, very bad things, killings, rape, burning of villages have taken place," UN envoy Jan Pronk said in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday.

He said the government must take responsibility to stop the militias.

Caution

Sudan has said it will comply with the latest UN resolution though it calls it "unfair" and says it gives the rebels an incentive not to reach a peace deal with the government.

The Arab militia are accused of ethnic cleansing in Sudan

Last week talks between the Sudanese government and rebels ended without agreement in Nigeria.

Responding to calls in the UN resolution to enlarge the AU's mediation force in Darfur, President Obasanjo, who is also president of the AU, said hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to deploy the troops.

Canada has already pledged $20m and he said he hoped the United States would give generously.

Later, the US Senate approved a $75m emergency fund for the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The US has now allocated some $700m for Darfur next year.

"[The UN resolution] will caution that the Sudanese government cannot do what it likes," Mr Obasanjo told the Associated Press news agency.

Meanwhile refugee officials in Chad say the rest of the world must share the burden of caring for the 190,000 refugees who have fled from Darfur over the border to neighbouring Chad.

"We are a poor country but one of the most generous in terms of hospitality and welcome," Mahamat Nour Abdoulaye, the secretary of Chad's National Commission for the Reintegration of Refugees told AFP news agency.