KHARTOUM, Sudan — A Darfur town under the control of Sudanese troops has been razed in apparent retaliation for a rebel attack on a nearby base of African peacekeepers. U.N. officials who inspected the town said Sunday about 15,000 civilians had fled the area.
United Nations officials said Haskanita emptied as the army moved in last week, and troops started burning it on Wednesday.
A U.N. statement said Sudanese government forces took control after suspected Darfur rebels attacked the nearby base of African Union peacekeepers a week ago, killing 10 of the soldiers.
Haskanita, “which is currently under the control of the government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings,” said the U.N. mission to Sudan.
A U.N. official who had just returned from Haskanita said it was clear that the army or its allied militias of nomad Arabs known as the janjaweed were behind it. The Arab-dominated government and the janjaweed militias are accused of regularly burning ethnic African villages as part of their counterinsurgency campaign against rebels.
The official said a full army battalion of 800 troops was stationed at the entrance of the smoldering town, which was otherwise empty.
The underfunded and ill-equipped AU force has been overwhelmed in its efforts to quell Darfur’s bloodshed. A joint AU-U.N. force of 26,000 soldiers is due to takeover Jan. 1.
Some rebels have said the attack on the African Union soldiers may have happened because some rebel groups suspected the AU of collaboration with Sudanese forces, something the AU sharply denies.
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