The Sudan Wars Continue

If it isn't the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, it's the Sudanese government going after its opponents elsewhere in the country. Hundreds die in the process, and the world issues a collective yawn; the UN shrugs its shoulders, and the General Assembly is probably busy preparing yet another anti-Israel resolution as I write this:

Hundreds of people may have been killed in the heaviest fighting between northern Sudanese forces and their former southern rebel foes since they signed a peace deal last year, a top southern officer said on Thursday.

In Nigeria's capital Abuja, the African Union decided to extend for six months the mandate of its peacekeeping force in Sudan's western Darfur region, where a separate conflict has killed an estimated 200,000 people since early 2003.

In the southern town of Malakal, terrified civilians reported looting and dead bodies in the streets after three days of clashes, and U.N. officials in New York said 240 civilian personnel had been temporarily evacuated from the town.

"More than hundreds have been lost. The Sudan army sustained very heavy casualties and civilians were caught in the crossfire," Elias Waya Nyipuocs, a senior officer in the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, told Reuters.

Flagrant violations of 2005 peace deal. Silence from the UN.

Meanwhile, Khartoum is playing games over whether they're going to let the UN take over for the AU forces. Some reports say that Khartoum is refusing to go along with UN control, while others say that they're going to accept the plan for the UN to lead AU peacekeepers.

Technorati: darfur, dafur, UN, sudan, chad, somalia, ethiopia, eritrea, african union, janjaweed, and Kofi Annan