Sudan’s spy chief vows to wipe out rebellions
December 28, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s top intelligence official has promised to eradicate all rebellions in the country by next year, warning that the fate of the slain Darfur rebel leader, Khalil Ibrahim, awaits all those carrying arms against the state.
The NISS chief saluted members of the regular forces, including the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the police and the paramilitary Popular Defense Forces (PDF) for what he termed as their strong stand-up against whom he called the traitors and deserters of the Darfur rebels, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which Atta branded as a terrorist organization.
Atta stressed that the year 2012 would be a year for “wiping out” rebellions against the state as well as whoever is tempted to threaten the security of Sudanese people.
He further warned that all rebels would meet a fate similar to that of Khalil.
The Sudanese government is fighting different rebel groups in the country’s tense and neglected peripheries, including the western region of Darfur, where JEM and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) are active, and the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile States, where rebels linked to South Sudan are fighting.
Leaders of Sudan’s security and military apparatus have been priding themselves in the killing over the weekend of JEM’s leader Khalil Ibrahim in an airstrike conducted by a fighter jet at 3 am.
Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Mohamed Hussein told the country’s parliamentarians on Tuesday that the killing of Khalil was tantamount to beheading the rebellion in Darfur.
Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir was more scathing when he considered the death of Khalil as “a divine retribution” resulting from what he termed as his choice to pursue the path of war, terrorizing the innocents and working to break up the unity of the country.
JEM quickly slammed Al-Bashir comments, saying that he should be the first target of such retribution considering the crimes he committed in Darfur region.
President Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of masterminding war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed in the early years of Darfur conflict.
In a related context, the leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, has warned against jubilation over Khalil’s death.
Al-Mahdi led a delegation of his party on Tuesday to the house of Khalil’s family in Id Hussein suburb in southern Khartoum and offered his condolences to the members of his family.
The NUP leader said that the loss of Khalil was a loss to the entire nation. He went on to note that despite the difference in the approach, his party and Khalil share one cause which is that of establishing a new system in Sudan that achieves equality and redress grievances between its people.
“Death will not negate the legitimacy of the cause, and we must admit that the country has problems and those problems will not be solved by violence,” he added.
Al-Mahdi cautioned against the dangers of expressing jubilation over Khalil’s death or seeking to avenge it. He said that what everyone should be thinking about is how to find a solution that creates a new system that embraces everyone, remedies grievances and enables Darfur people to attain their legitimate aspirations.”
(ST)