Sudanese rebels claiming government bombs civilians

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Sudanese government bombed a village in southern Sudan, seriously injuring eight people, rebels said. The government denied the accusation Saturday.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army said in a statement late Friday that government aircraft dropped seven bombs Wednesday in Malual Kon, about 570 miles southwest of the capital, Khartoum.

The rebels also accused the government of bombing a refugee camp in Pariang, 400 miles south of Khartoum, but gave no details of casualties.

However, a government spokesman rebuffed the allegations and said the rebels were spreading false information.

"The government does not have any military operations in the south to my knowledge," Abdelrahman Hamza, director of the government spokes-man's office, said by telephone from Khartoum.

Rebel claims come a week after the U.S. envoy to Sudan, John C. Danforth, ended a six-day trip to the country to see how the United States could help to end the 18-year war.

Danforth presented four proposals calling for access to the Nuba Mountains for humanitarian agencies, an end to fighting in the mountains, a halt to the bombing of civilians and the creation of "zones of tranquility" to allow aid to be delivered to conflict areas.

He said that if the proposals were not adopted by the time he returned to the country in mid-January, he would tell President Bush there is nothing the United States can do.

The war broke out in 1983, when the SPLA took up arms against the government in the predominantly Arab and Muslim north in an attempt to obtain greater autonomy and religious freedom for the south, where most of the people follow traditional African beliefs. About 5 percent are Christian.