By Stephanie Hancock
N'djamena, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Arab-led Darfur rebels accuse Sudan's government of fomenting ethnic tensions in the war-torn region as a "divide and rule" tactic and insist the portrayal of Arabs as linked to the feared Janjaweed militia is wrong.
The United Revolutionary Force Front (URFF), a little-known Arab-led group opposed to the Khartoum government, says government troops have increased attacks on its positions in Darfur in recent weeks, including a raid on Aug. 11 in which the group says it captured 12 government soldiers.
"The government of Sudan is trying to separate the Arabs and the Africans, to put them on two sides against each other," URFF Secretary-General Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Brima told Reuters in neighbouring Chad.
Darfur's war pits local rebel groups drawn largely from African farming tribes against government forces and allied militia known as the Janjaweed, whose mainly Arab members are accused of bloody attacks on villagers that have forced many of Darfur's 2.5 million displaced from their homes.
International experts say 200,000 have been killed in Darfur since 2003, although Khartoum says only 9,000 have died.
"Yes Khartoum has created militias -- but other ethnic groups are involved as well as Arabs ... Arabs are part of Darfur as well, and we are suffering just as the others," Mohammad Brima said.
He said Arabs also fell victim to violence.
"We are not beside the militia -- we are against anybody that attacks the people of Darfur ... we are against these people, even if they are Arabs," he said. "The people of Darfur are one nation and they should not be separated."
"READY TO DEFEND OURSELVES"
Mohammad Brima said the URFF did not wish to fight, as other Darfur rebel groups have, but had been left with little choice.
"We still believe that the gun will not solve the problem," he said. "But the government of Sudan believes it can only win by war, so we must be ready to defend ourselves."
The URFF says government forces have attacked its positions in Darfur three times in the past few weeks, most recently on Aug. 11 in the village of Souja, near Wadi-Saleh in west Darfur, where the rebel group captured army soldiers for the first time.
A relatively unknown member of the growing ranks of Darfur rebel groups, the URFF says the upsurge in attacks is evidence that Khartoum is beginning to feel their group is a threat.
Mohammad Brima declined to say how many fighters were in the movement or what its military capabilities were.
Founded in 2004, it says it was not invited to peace talks because it had not been engaged in active combat -- until now.
But its leaders claim support from key rebel groups such as the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and say its top commanders include people from non-Arab clans including the Zaghawa people -- who span the Sudan-Chad border and dominate Chadian politics.
As violence has spiralled in Darfur, ethnic violence has surged and spread across the border into eastern Chad.
More than 100 people were killed in a week of clashes in late July and early August between Arab tribes over land and scarce resources, mainly in South Darfur state.
"It is not correct to say that Arabs are Janjaweed, and that Janjaweed are Arab," said Mohammad Brima. "This is completely wrong. Arabs are part of Darfur, and are merged and inter-married with the people of Darfur."