Darfur JEM chief discloses edited portions of Al-Jazeera interview

By Wasil Ali

June 17, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – The leader of Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) revealed that over an hour-long parts of his interview aired Sunday were not shown in Al-Jazeera Arabic language television.

“The interview was an hour and a half long. We had a military parade that was videotaped” Khalil Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune by satellite phone.

Ibrahim said that during the interview he provided in-depth details on the attack he launched on the Sudanese capital last month that took the government and international community by surprise.

The Sudanese government managed to repulse the attack and accused Chad of backing JEM in its attempt.

“It is not true that the attack was a surprise. They [government] knew about our advance but failed to stop us” JEM leader said.

The rebel leader has been on the run the days following the assault and the Sudanese government put a bounty of $250,000 for anyone contributing to the rebel leader’s arrest. Al-Jazeera interview was the first time Ibrahim appeared on TV since the assault ending speculations that he was killed or injured.

“I recounted the Sudanese government losses and told them [Al-Jazeera] about the meeting that took place with the JEM executive council under the bridge in Omdurman” the JEM leader said.

“I was in the [Sudanese] capital for over 72 hours. We were well received by the jubilant people there who also provided us with some assistance and helped our wounded soldiers” he added.

The Sudanese government performed mopping up activities in the capital looking for JEM fighters and their leaders including Ibrahim. They managed to arrest a number of senior JEM officials attempting to flee the country including Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr, who is believed to be the top military commander in the rebel group.

Ibrahim’s right hand man Jamali Hassan Jelaladin was killed during the attack and his corpse was shown on TV.

But Khartoum has failed to nab Ibrahim despite their earlier indications that they were getting close to rounding him up. The Sudanese defense minister said the army intercepted a telephone call between JEM leader and the Chadian authorities urging them to send a helicopter to airlift him from the border area.

The JEM chief said that he told Al-Jazeera that the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir fled to Kenana in South Khartoum after performing pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia while Sudanese ministers went into hiding.

“We destroyed more than 70 tanks as well as an air force hanger but did not target civilians despite our ability to do so. Our fighters are very disciplined” he stressed.

Ibrahim also dismissed TV footages showing children who the government said JEM had used as soldiers. He also denied any links to the Popular Congress Party (PCP) saying JEM had fundamental differences with them.

The JEM leader also lashed out an agreement signed between the Umma Party led by Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) known as “National Reconciliation accord”.

“It is an agreement on killing and displacing our people” Ibrahim spoke angrily.

Al-Mahdi has been one of the leading opposition figures to quickly condemn the JEM attack and accused Chad of backing it. He also visited the Sudanese president to voice support in a move that shocked even his followers and was criticized by other opposition parties.

The broadcasting of the JEM leader interview was delayed several weeks leading to speculations that Khartoum is pressuring Al-Jazeera to prevent broadcasting it.

But Ahmed Sheikh, editor-in-chief of Al-Jazeera television, told Sudan Tribune earlier this month that the there was no deliberate holdup but that the network was waiting for the tape to arrive.

The Sudanese government issued no reaction to the interview. Sudanese officials have previously questioned the authenticity of the video saying that some of his guards shown in earlier excerpts of the interview were in government custody.

(ST)