By Simon Apiku KHARTOUM, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The African Union on Friday accused a former Darfur rebel group of intimidating its personnel in the war-torn region in protest over pay cuts. Under a fragile 2006 peace deal between the government and one faction of the SLA, led by Minni Arcua Minnawi, the African Union pays salaries to the representatives of the government and several rebel groups that signed a 2004 ceasefire agreement. The organisation said some 20 soldiers of the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the AU base in el-Fasher, Darfur's main town. The AU has cut the monthly allowances due to its declining resources. It said it took the decision after discussions with all parties, including donors. Darfur rebel groups have fragmented into many splinter factions and the African Union statement did not say which faction of the SLA the soldiers belonged to. However, an AU source in el-Fasher told Reuters the heavily armed men were members of Minnawi's faction. "They did not enter inside, but they chased everyone in the area away," the source said. SLA Military Spokesman Mohammed Hamid Darben confirmed the report but said the protest was not a show of force. The group on Wednesday gave the African Union three days to reinstate old salaries. It also said it was suspending participation of its representatives within AU the missions. It did not specify the consequences if the AU did not comply. The AU has an under-funded force of 7,000 troops in Darfur, an arid region the size of France. International experts say some 200,000 have died and more than 2 million fled their homes since the conflict flared in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms against the government, charging it with neglect. Khartoum puts the death toll at 9,000. The United Nations Security Council decided on Tuesday to approve the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops and police to stem the bloodshed in the region. Under the 2006 peace deal, Minnawi became a senior assistant to the Sudanese president. His forces since then have been involved in bloody confrontations with police in Khartoum. Aid agencies in Darfur also accuse his group of abuses, and the AU blames it for the killing of a number of its troops.
