Abdalaziz Khalid may be released by UAE
By Muawia E. Ibrahim
ABU DHABI, Sep 26, 2004 (Khaleej Time) — UAE authorities may release Abdul Aziz Khalid, head of the northern opposition group Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF) who was arrested here on Thursday, a source close to the opposition leader told Khaleej Times yesterday.
A former Sudanese army general, Khalid was arrested upon arrival on a flight from Egypt at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on the basis of a notice issued by Interpol, accusing him of committing terrorist acts in Sudan, UAE authorities said.
“I was told that he might be released in a day or two. I was also told that the Interpol arrest notice is not valid anymore as it was issued three years ago as per a request by the Khartoum government,” the source told this reporter on the phone.
“The man is in talks with the government and I don’t think Khartoum is interested in arresting him anymore,” he added.
He said, quoting Mr Khalid’s lawyer, that Khartoum will send a request to UAE authorities to withdraw its earlier request to the Interpol.
The source said the Khartoum request was based on Mr Khalid’s involvement in rebel operations along Sudan’s eastern border.
The ex-paratrooper have been growing in strength on Sudan’s eastern border since the early 1990s.
By the mid-1990s Khalid’s SAF had probably about 300 men under the arms. SAF has played a major role in the opening of a new war front in the east since 1997, when together with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and smaller groups its forces began to pressure the strategically vital hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile.
According to Khartoum government, the SAF was responsible for a number of attacks on oil pipelines and government forces in the 1990s and carried out strikes against the government in the eastern front.
In 2002, the SAF merged with the southern SPLA group.
Mr Khalid has been living in Egypt for the past few months and earlier in Eritrea from where he operated. His SAF is a member of the Sudanese opposition umbrella group the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a largely northern grouping made up of 14 political parties, trade union representatives and rebel armies. The NDA, which has its headquarters in Eritrea, also includes the main southern rebel group, the SPLA.