Sudanese army beats back rebel attack

KHARTOUM, June 20, 2005 (Xinhua) — The Sudanese army has confronted a traitorous rebel attack backed by foreign sides in eastern Sudan, the army said in a statement issued on Monday.

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

An armed group belonging to both the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Beja Conference attacked a Sudanese military base in Tokar town in east Sudan early on Sunday, said the statement without mentioning the foreign sides behind the attackers.

The Sudanese armed forces fought against the rebels and succeeded in taking full control of the situation, it added, saying there were no casualties in the army.

It said the attack was an attempt to distort the atmosphere of peace that is overwhelming in Sudan and undermine the efforts of the government toward realizing national reconciliation through the current round of Abuja peace talks and other forums.

The peace talks between the Sudanese government on one side and the Sudan Liberation Movement and the JEM on the other side were resumed in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on June 10.

Khartoum has been working to make the new round of talks with the Darfur rebel groups final and successful to expand the peace process in the country after it had signed the comprehensive peace deal with the south on Jan. 9 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, which ended more than two decades of a civil war on the African continent.