- Rebels say clashes with government imminent
- Armed men stop peacekeepers, steal weapons, vehicle, gear
- New diplomatic efforts from Qatar, United States
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, May 24 (Reuters) - Darfur rebels on Sunday accused Sudan's government of mounting daily bombing raids around their positions and said they were expecting another clash with state troops soon.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it had faced regular raids since its rebel forces seized the strategic town of Kornoi last weekend in North Darfur, the scene of a recent surge in fighting and growing tensions with neighbour Chad.
U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had received unconfirmed reports of aerial attacks in territory around the settlements of Tina, Kornoi and Umm Baru, all along a road that leads northwest to a crossing point into Chad.
No one from Sudan's armed forces was immediately available to comment.
"There is a government Antonov over my head right now," said senior JEM commander Suleiman Sandal, speaking to Reuters by satellite phone on Sunday morning.
"They have been bombing every day. They bomb randomly. Yesterday we were bombed by MiGs," he said. It was unclear how many casualties there were.
Sandal said his commanders had heard Sudanese government troops were heading towards them, from El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. "More fighting is imminent. But we are ready for anything that comes," he said.
Air attacks in Darfur are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions and a series of failed ceasefires, but Khartoum has in the past reserved the right to attack JEM and other rebels who did not sign a 2006 Darfur peace deal.
TENSIONS WITH CHAD
Tensions have been building along Sudan's remote border with Chad for weeks.
The two oil producers have long accused each other of supporting each other's rebels. Chad earlier this month admitted bombing rebels inside Sudanese territory, while Khartoum says N'Djamena backs JEM, whose leaders have ethnic links with Chadian president Idriss Deby.
The fighting around Kornoi is the latest in a six-year conflict that started when mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur took up arms against Sudan's government, accusing it of neglecting the development of the region.
Estimates of the resulting death toll range from 300,000 according to the U.N.'s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, to 10,000 according to Khartoum.
In many places, fighting has descended into a free-for-all of tribal clashes and banditry.
Armed men stopped a vehicle carrying Nigerian peacekeepers near El Geneina, capital of west Darfur, on Saturday night, and stole their weapons, phones, radio and transport, the joint U.N./African Union force said. No one was injured in the attack.
The U.N.'s World Food Programme said a contract driver was shot dead by suspected robbers in Al Deain in South Darfur on Tuesday.
In the latest of a series of diplomatic efforts in the region, Qatar's state minister of foreign affairs, Ahmed Ben Abdallah Al Mohmoud, held talks with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Sunday.
Qatar is already hosting faltering negotiations between JEM and Sudan's government, due to restart on May 27. Sudanese state media said Al Mohmoud was also planning to visit Chad in a bid "to solve the problems between the two countries".
The U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration set off on a series of visits to China, Qatar, Britain and France on Saturday, to build up support for peace efforts inside Africa's largest country, according to a statement from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.
(Editing by Myra MacDonald)