Sudan claims eastern opposition preparing attacks

KHARTOUM, May 31 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has accused opposition forces of planning attacks on targets in the east of the country, including a key oil export pipeline, a semi-official news agency reported Tuesday.

Rebels from Sudan’s Eastern Front parade during a conference held by the Front north of Kassala town, near the Eritrean border. (AFP).

The Sudanese Media Centre quoted a regional official as saying the opposition Eastern Front and a rebel movement from the troubled western Darfur region were preparing “a subversive plot targeting the country’s eastern front.”

General Faruq Hassan Nur, governor of the eastern Kassala State, said the “plot” targeted the national highway linking Khartoum with Port Sudan on the Red Sea, the oil pipeline and development projects in the region.

He said the attacks were being prepared by the opposition Beja Congress and Free Lions — a movement seeking more power and wealth-sharing in the east — and the Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

The attacks, Nur said, would be “limited and quick in order to create confusion and attract public opinion.”

State security forces are securing the highway and other installations, he said, adding: “The army is presently conducting land and aerial surveillance patrols to detect moves by the opposition forces.”