Khartoum bombs civilians in Red Sea state – rebels say
ASMARA, June 24 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has launched an intensive aerial bombing campaign on civilian targets in its eastern Red Sea state in an apparent bid to halt a rebellion in the region, two rebel groups said Friday.
The groups, which attacked government positions south of Port Sudan on Sunday and claim to have made significant advances since, accused Khartoum of pursuing a policy similar to that used in its troubled western Darfur region.
They said the bombing began in the Barka Valley on Thursday and resulted in a large but unknown number of civilian casualties who filled hospitals in Port Sudan and the town of Tokar, 120 kilometers (75 miles) south.
“A lot of livestock were killed and the bombing is still going on,” said Salah Barqueen, a senior official with the Eastern Front, a coalition of rebel groups that complain their region has been marginalized by Khartoum.
“Many people are injured but we don’t have figures,” he said. “The hospitals in Tokar and Port Sudan are closed because there are so many people in the emergency rooms.”
“They are bombing because they failed to face our troops on the ground, so now they are doing the same as in Darfur,” Barqueen told reporters in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, where the Eastern Front has offices.
“They don’t bomb our troops because they are afraid of being shot down by our defenses,” he said.
The claims could not be independently confirmed due to the remoteness of the area halfway between Port Sudan and the Eritrean border but Khartoum has been criticized in the past for bombing civilian targets during conflicts.
Izzadine Baggi, a senior official with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur rebel group that has joined the Eastern Front campaign in Red Sea state, offered a similar appraisal of the situation.
“They have bombed civilians around Tokar like they did in Darfur,” he said.
On Thursday, the Eastern Front said Sudanese troops, tanks and heavy artillery were massing in the region and that its forces were bracing for a government advance to repel its first offensive.
The Eastern Front — created only in February by eastern Sudan’s two main dissident factions, the Beja Congress and Free Lions — launched its first major military operation against the government on Sunday near Tokar.
Both eastern and western rebels claim their regions are being marginalized by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.