Khartoum, Sudan (CNN) -- A major Darfur rebel group in Sudan has issued a warning to international organizations and U.N. peacekeeping forces that government-managed airports have become legitimate military targets, a newly issued statement reads.
The Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army warned the peacekeepers and other groups "deployed in Darfur and other parts of Sudan to evacuate airports in Darfur and elsewhere immediately because these sites are now strategic military targets for SLM/A forces."
The statement went on to say that the Sudanese air force represents 60% of the Sudanese government's war effort in Darfur, while ground offensives account for only 40% of attacks.
War in Darfur erupted in 2003 when non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the central government in Khartoum, accusing it of marginalization and neglect.
The United Nations puts the death toll in Darfur at 300,000 as a result of violence, disease and malnutrition. The Sudanese government says 10,000 have died.
A faction of the liberation movement had signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in 2005 in Abuja, Nigeria. But its leader, Minni Minnawi, defected from Khartoum earlier this year.
Specifically mentioned in the warning is the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur, the largest international peacekeeping force in the world. It was established in 2007 to help support the Darfur peace agreement.
In response to the liberation movement's threat, the peacekeeping group issued this response: "UNAMID notes with grave concern the recent 'warning statement' ... that airports in Sudan in general, and Darfur in particular, have been designated by this movement as military targets and susceptible to attacks."
"UNAMID should like to reiterate that it is, and will remain, impartial in the Darfur conflict. The Mission should like to emphasize that, owing to the region's geographic conditions and lack of infrastructure, most humanitarian relief such as food, water, shelter and medical supplies is transported by air.
"Any attack against UNAMID peacekeepers, given their role in Darfur, would be a war crime under international law," the statement said.
On Sunday, the peacekeeping force pointed out renewed clashes between rebel groups and the Sudanese Armed Forces in northern Darfur.
The renewed fighting has caused villagers in the area to move to nearby internally displaced persons camps, the group said.
Darfur is in the western region of Sudan, Africa's largest country in area. It's not the only region of Sudan that's seen violent conflict.
Sudan's mostly Muslim north and mostly Christian and animist south fought a war for more than two decades, finally ending in a peace treaty in 2005 that paved the way for a referendum for independence for Southern Sudan.
Final results of last month's referendum showed an overwhelming majority of southern Sudanese voted to split from the north, a result that will lead to the creation of the world's newest nation later in 2011.
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