Sudanese capital is safe from rebel attacks, says governor

May 15, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The governor of Khartoum, Abdel-Rahman al-Khidir, asserted today that the Sudanese capital is safe amid growing concern among officials and residents of an imminent attack by rebels from the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).

“Sleep [feeling] safe and feel secure”, al-Khidir said in a message to Khartoum residents while also warning rebels that the army will not wait for them until they reach Khartoum but will preempt and bring the battle behind their lines.

The governor, who was addressing the “Strategic Brigade” of Popular Police in Khartoum, affirmed the readiness of the army and other forces to defend the capital.

He also emphasized that the government assumed power through elections and would only abandon it through elections and not by “force, vandalism, intimidation of peaceful people, and destruction of civilian facilities”.

At the same event, the director of Khartoum police Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Hafez Hassan Attia stressed that his forces are ready to defend the capital recalling its heroic role during attack on the twin capital of Omdurman carried out by the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

In 2008, JEM launched a surprise attack on Omdurman, on the West of the Nile from Sudan’s capital Khartoum. It was repulsed but caused shockwaves throughout the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

Last week, Sudan’s national parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, was quoted as saying “[They] won’t be able to attack Khartoum; however, if they dared to do so, their fate would be much worse than Khalil [leader of Darfur Justice and Equality Movement]”.

Following rumors in the Sudanese media that rebels were preparing to invade Dongola, in the north of the country last week, the SRF Chief of Staff Abd al-Aziz Al-Hilu, said in an interview with Radio Dabanga that it is “not impossible” for his forces to enter Khartoum, Omdurman or Port Sudan.

Al-Hilu further said that the SRF “has legitimate rights” to move freely within the country’s territory, considering that its members are Sudanese nationals.

“If the NCP [ruling National Congress Party] troops can go to different places and wage war and attack civilians, we can follow them. Why did they go to Kadugli, Al Buram, Teludi? We have the same rights,” he asserted.

On Tuesday, the US embassy in Khartoum issued a security warning saying that it is “temporarily prohibiting all discretionary travel of U.S. Government employees and their family members to Omdurman because of recent increased security threats”.

The embassy did not offer any specifics on the nature of the threat it was referring to.

In a rare attack late last month, SRF rebels swept through the city of Um Rawaba in North Kordofan, before withdrawing later on the same day.

In the past, fighting between the rebels and SAF has largely been limited to Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states bordering South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011.

North Kordofan, which includes Um Rawaba and forms part of Sudan’s commercial heartland, is a hub for the country’s agriculture, livestock and gum Arabic industries.

The Sudanese army now has it eyes on reclaiming Abu-Kershola district in South Kordofan which was overrun by rebels during last month’s assault.

Officials in Khartoum say that they have completely surrounded the area and pledged not to stop until they recapture Kauda which is the stronghold of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan.

(ST)