Rebels kill army chief

A rebel unit killed a top commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army before defecting to join government-allied forces, a government daily reported.

The al-Anbaa newspaper said James Atem, a leader of SPLA forces in the upper Nile area was killed early this month. Atem was one of the top SPLA field commanders, the paper said on July 6. It said he was killed while inspecting a rebel unit that later joined government-allied forces. The independent Akhbar Al Youm newspaper said Atem was a nephew of SPLA leader John Garang. The newspaper also quoted a former rebel leader now allied with the government as saying his forces captured a town in southern Sudan and killed 94 rebels.