Gov't accused of supporting rebels

Juba, Sudan (AP):

A TOP political leader in the emerging nation of Southern Sudan yesterday accused the northern government of backing southern rebels who killed 211 people.

Macabre video showed the bodies of victims being pulled from a muddy river and piled into a mass grave.

The attack by rebel leader George Athor happened last week, and officials then said 105 people, including 30 of Athor's men died. But yesterday the toll was raised to 241, most of them civilians.

The victims were chased into a river by Athor's men, where some were shot and others drowned, said Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Minister James Kok Ruea.

"It was a massacre because they are all civilians who did not have defences," said Ruea. "Some of them were (southerners) who just returned from northern Sudan. Innocent children, women and elderly people who could not defend themselves."

Pagan Amum, who heads the Southern Peoples' Liberation Movement, the political arm of Southern Sudan's ruling party, blamed the Khartoum government for arming and financing rebel leaders in the south. He said helicopters were used to transport weapons to Athor.

Leaders in Southern Sudan toned down accusations against Khartoum in the run-up to the January 9-15 independence referendum. Al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes in Darfur, has publicly accepted of the south's separation and said the north would help the south move forward.