Darfur rebels boast strength in east Sudan too
By Ed Harris
ASMARA, June 22 (Reuters) – Rebels from the Darfur region of western Sudan are developing a new front in the east of the country, expanding their campaign against discrimination by central government, they said on Wednesday.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) signed a ceasefire with the government over Darfur last year and is in peace talks to resolve that conflict, but now fights alongside other rebel groups in the east of the vast country.
“JEM has a problem not in Darfur only, but in all of Sudan,” Izzdin Baggi, representative for Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement in neighbouring Eritrea, told Reuters.
“JEM is the biggest force in the east,” he added, giving no details. “How can we have attacked the government for three days and captured three places if we are not a big force?”
Eastern Front and JEM rebels say they hold 20 government troops and considerable quantities of weaponry from attacks since the weekend on three camps near Tokar, some 120 km (75 miles) south of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.
The rebel Eastern Front group is a recent amalgamation of the Beja Congress group and the smaller Rashaida Free Lions.
Sudan has been torn by conflict for more than 20 years. Though the main war between southern rebels and Khartoum was settled in January a separate rebellion in Darfur has claimed tens of thousands of lives since it began two years ago.
A common grievance cited by all rebel groups is that the government has neglected to finance development.
In a bid to defuse the growing eastern rebellion, Khartoum said last month it would give about $88 million for development in east Sudan over three years and rebuild infrastructure in the Port Sudan area — the main conduit for Sudan’s oil exports.
“WE SEEK EQUALITY”
Baggi said the JEM supported rebels in the east. “We seek equality of power and wealth … If the government will not solve our problems, we will go deeper into Sudan.”
Eastern rebels have held a small piece of territory adjacent to Eritrea since 1997. After a lull in large-scale activities since 2002, they have recently threatened to step up attacks.
While very poor and prone to drought, eastern Sudan contains the nation’s only modern port and is vital to its growing oil industry.
The leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army John Garang flew into Eritrea on Tuesday for talks with the government. Asmara says it sympathises with the eastern rebels but denies accusations by Khartoum that it provides military support.
The Eritrean Information Ministry website quoted Garang — due to be Sudan’s vice-president in a new government to be formed under the January peace deal — as expressing solidarity with the Darfur and eastern rebels.
“We sympathize with the Darfur and Eastern Sudan question,” he said. “We shall work to ensure a comprehensive peace.”
The JEM has splintered many times and it is not clear if its leadership has full control over forces on the ground.
As well as the Eastern Front and JEM, Garang’s rebels are also present in the east but are due to withdraw from a small, rebel-controlled area by January next year.