SUDAN RELEASES 50 DARFUR REBELS

February 24, 2010: Sudan released 57 Darfur rebels who had been sentenced to death, under a new truce agreement between the government and the Justice and Equality Movement, the country's most powerful rebel group. Justice Minister Abdel-Basset Sabdarat told reporters that President Omar al-Bashir ordered the prisoners freed.
The leader of the most powerful rebel group promised that it, too, would release government soldiers it holds.
The rebels had been imprisoned for their part in an attack on the Sudanese capital in 2008 that killed more than 200 people and caused heavy damage to public properties. (Sources: AJC.com, 24/02/2010; Amnesty)