Sudan denies JEM claims of military losses in Darfur

May 21, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudanese army today denied claims made by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) that it has inflicted heavy casualties on government troops in the recent clashes that occurred in the restive region.

The most powerful military group said that it had killed 200 Sudanese soldiers during fighting in South Darfur while losing 4 on their end. The figures were not independently confirmed.

But the army spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled Sa’ad dismissed the figures saying that JEM fighters are being chased after which they entered Oum Sa’aoun village to use civilians as “human shields”.

Sa’ad told government sponsored Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website that the army refrained from firing in the village to avoid hurting the civilian population.

In a statement today JEM appealed to the International Commission for the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations to evacuate 48 government troops they say were wounded in the clashes.

“JEM appeals to the ICRC and other relevant UN institutions to assist in the evacuation of 48 injured government soldiers following the Um Saouna engagement of May 19,” JEM military spokesman Ali Alwafi said in a statement.

“These soldiers are abandoned by the Sudan government and JEM is not in a position to provide them with adequate care,” Alwafi said.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and earned him an arrest warrant for war crimes from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

JEM has warned it would attack the government “anywhere” after suspending its participation in the talks, citing bombardment of its areas despite a framework agreement signed with Khartoum last February.

(ST)