SUDAN:The stench of burning hung in the air of Sirba, a town in West Darfur, as its inhabitants returned home to find their belongings in a charred pile, their animals dead and their food gone.
Sudan said it attacked the three remote West Darfur towns of Sirba, Abu Surouj and Suleia to force the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) out of the area and reopen roads connecting the population to the outside world, closed since the movement occupied the area in December.
A third of Sirba's straw huts were burned and the market looted. Animals lay dead in the sandy streets. Dust-covered children swung off scorched branches watching as aid workers, journalists and United Nations-African Union peacekeepers inspected the damage yesterday.
"They killed my husband," said Kultoum Abdallah (30), left without a home or breadwinner to care for her three children.
"I have nothing to eat, what should I do?" she pleaded, breaking into sobs and hiding her face in her bright blue robe. She spent two days in the bush after militias on horse and camelback looted, raped and burned.
Local leader Abakr Suleiman Ibrahim said 10 girls were raped by militiamen, one as young as 10-years-old. He estimated that 3,000 people were missing.
Haroun Esam Yehia said he saw the militia, known locally as Janjaweed, burn his home. "I still don't know where two of my sons are," he said. They are 15- and 12-years-old.
A humanitarian team had brought tents for some who lost their homes, and a first instalment of food for 5,000 people, as well as jerry cans and plastic sheeting, arrived on UN trucks.
Residents and the governor of West Darfur said militias had killed 45-47 people in the attack and burned their houses. Both said the Sudanese army, which entered later, had not touched them. They said the dead were buried in mass graves.
Residents argued fiercely with army and security officials over what had happened during Friday's attacks.
The army said it was fighting JEM, whose members had hidden among the population dressed in civilian clothes. They showed dozens of rifles, heavy weapons and Israeli-made guns they said they found in houses in the town which had burned in an exchange of fire. They said they also found two cars belonging to an international aid group with JEM's logo written on them, full of empty bullet shells. But they denied any links to the militia.
"These criminal gangs hear of an impending operation and take advantage of this," said senior army officer Abdel Salam Abdel Hamid, adding that papers and ID they found inside the town were proof of JEM's presence.
In Sirba on Tuesday, mostly women, the elderly and children had returned to the town. JEM logos and slogans were scrawled over the town's buildings. Residents said the rebel group had no permanent presence in the town, saying they painted the logos in December but never came back.
"Dr Khalil [JEM leader] did not kill one person when he came," Ibrahim said. "Why did the government arm these Janjaweed?" But he wanted more Sudanese army forces to protect them against militias or rebels. "We are scared of anyone who has guns but the government."
While the facts are disputed, it is clear that the world's largest aid operation will have more work as civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire of Darfur's revolt. International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect.