The African Union said on Sunday one of its helicopters had been shot at over Darfur, showing that a ceasefire was not holding between the Sudanese government and rebels in the troubled western region. "One of our helicopters has been shot. They are firing on our helicopters. This shows that the ceasefire is not being observed. They did not comply. They have not stopped fighting," AU spokesman Assane Ba told reporters in Abuja on Sunday evening.
He gave no further details. It was not clear who had shot at the helicopter, or when. Sudan said on Sunday it would immediately and unconditionally cease hostilities in Darfur and asked the United Nations and the AU -- which is mediating in talks in Nigeria between Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups -- to ask rebel forces to do the same. But Ba had said earlier that the AU force commander in Darfur, Nigerian General Festus Okonkwo, had had told mediators that government forces had attacked the village of Labado on Saturday in defiance of an AU ultimatum. |