U.N. probes reports of violations of Darfur ceasefire

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the United Nations was looking into reports of aerial bombings in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region after the Sudanese government declared a ceasefire.

In a statement issued by the U.N. press office, Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of aerial bomb attacks near Kutum in North Darfur, as well as allegations of fighting in West Darfur on the border with Chad.

"(Ban) takes these reports very seriously and calls on all parties to refrain from hostilities, to respect the spirit of the ceasefire recently declared by the government of Sudan and to cooperate with UNAMID (U.N.-African Union Mission in Darfur) in investigating these reports," the statement said.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused of orchestrating a campaign of genocide in Darfur, last week announced an "immediate" and "unconditional" ceasefire across the remote region of western Sudan where rebel and government militia have clashed for more than five years.

Sudan's military has acknowledged fighting what it said were armed bandits in Darfur after the ceasefire was declared but denied that it was a violation of the truce. Rebels accused the army of bombing territory they control.

U.N. officials believe the Darfur conflict has left as many as 300,000 people dead and another 2.5 million homeless.

Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict, which began in 2003 when fighting broke out between the Arab-dominated Khartoum government and mostly African rebels.

Separately, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who asked The Hague-based court in July to indict Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, is expected to announce on Thursday that he wants to indict several rebels for attacking AU peacekeepers last year.

Western diplomats in New York confirmed that Moreno-Ocampo was expected to make the announcement. They welcomed the new move, saying all those guilty of war crimes in Darfur should be prosecuted.

Khartoum has dismissed Moreno-Ocampo's accusations against Bashir as baseless and politically motivated and wants the Security Council to put a halt to the ICC investigation of the Sudanese president. The ICC judges are not expected to make a decision on whether to indict Bashir until next year.

The African Union, Arab League and others have said the ICC moves against Bashir could destroy the fragile peace process in Darfur and have urged the Security Council to intervene.

Council diplomats say the United States and European Union member states are opposed to invoking the council's power to suspend ICC probes in the case of Bashir.

(Editing by David Wiessler)