Darfuris return to charred homes after attack

from AlertNet

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 out of the area and reopen roads connecting the population to the outside world, closed since JEM 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 on Tuesday.

Read on