Fearing rebels, Sudan arms tribes in east – source
By Nima Elbagir
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – The Sudanese government is arming tribes in the east of the vast African state because of fears a rebel group already fighting elsewhere in Sudan may be preparing attacks, a Sudanese intelligence official said.
The official told Reuters on Wednesday the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), led by Khalil Ibrahim and one of two rebel groups that launched an uprising in Sudan’s western Darfur region, was positioning troops on the Eritrea-Sudan border.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail denied the government was arming tribes or militias in the east. He told reporters the armed forces were on alert, but there were no definite reports of a rebel attack in the east.
“We are not arming militias, we are not arming tribes. We have enough forces there,” he said in Khartoum on Thursday.
JEM, which the government has also accused of involvement in a failed coup attempt last month, said it would not comment on troop positions. Both Darfur rebel groups have previously said they have links to rebels in the east of Sudan.
“(JEM’s) Dr Khalil and his troops are parading up and down the border, we have seen him. It is our duty to give people the opportunity to defend themselves,” the intelligence official, who declined to be named, said by telephone to Reuters in London speaking from Khartoum.
He confirmed reports from aid workers in Sudan that the government was arming eastern tribes, like the Bani Amir.
Rebels say the government has often turned to arming tribes as part of counter-insurgency tactics to battle uprisings in the south and west. Sudanese officials say a popular defence force law allows them to arm and conscript civilians.
Sudan said in late July it had intelligence that Darfur rebel forces were mobilising along the Sudan-Eritrea border in preparation to launch an attack on the Eastern Red Sea State.
JEM’s Ibrahim told Reuters from Eritrea where his group has an office that he would not discuss any troop positions, but added: “There will be no peace in Khartoum at all, as (long) as there is no peace in Darfur or in the east or other regions.”
RISING TENSIONS
Aid workers say tensions have risen in the east and security checks stepped up, particularly in Kassala, about 420 km (260 miles) east of Khartoum. Tribal militias are reported to be garrisoned just outside Kassala, one aid source said.
“Our reports are that the arming of the Bani Amir began in June and has continued since then. The Sudanese government is using the same ethnic incitement to convince the Arab umdas (tribal leaders) to conscript their people,” the aid source said, saying the reports came from Sudanese aid workers.
The Beja Congress, the biggest rebel group in the east, have accused Khartoum of neglecting their region. But they said in August that their group was still observing a self-imposed ceasefire and would attack only if provoked.
Observers said arming new tribes in Sudan, which has a diverse mix of ethnic groups and tribes, would further destabilise Africa’s largest country which has been ravaged by war in its south and Darfur.
“You have a country where the tribes are not exactly known for peaceful co-existence and a government that is visibly shaky, by arming Arab tribes in another part of the country they seem to be almost willing Sudan to disintegrate,” a Western observer said. (Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Cairo and Opheera McDoom in Khartoum).