Threat to aid flights censured

NAIROBI (AP) - The human rights group, Africa Watch, has condemned the threat by rebels in southern Sudan to shoot down relief planes to the besieged town of Juba.

In a statement sent to news organisations in Nairobi yesterday, the London-based organisation urged the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army to withdraw the threat immediately. Africa Watch also demanded the return of about 3,000 Sudanese boys who went back to southern Sudan from a refugee camp in north-western Kenya early this month.

Relief flights to Juba were halted on 18 July because of heavy rebel shelling, leaving about 300,000 people without food or medicine.