Eastern rebels vow to reach political solution with Khartoum

Jan 14, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Eastern Sudan rebel group reiterated its commitment to find a peaceful solution to the issue of eastern Sudan through negotiations. Also it accused the government of widening the circle of war by attacking Hamash Koreb town on the second day of Eid-al-Adha.

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

Deputy Secretary-General of the Beja Congress and member of the leadership office of the Eastern Front Abdallah Musa said that the Front was committed to reaching a peaceful solution through negotiations. He further described the government’s attack on Hamash Koreb last Wednesday 11 January as a dangerous escalation which threatened to widen the circle of war.

Musa said that by creating Al-Bitanah Lions militia in Al-Qadarif region in eastern Sudan, the government only wanted to repeat the Darfur scenario in eastern Sudan and urged the parties to the transitional government to put pressure on bellicose elements in the regime.

Musa said that following the intervention by the UN secretary general’s special envoy, Jan Pronk, the Eastern Front’s leadership had agreed to enter into negotiations with the government in Tripoli. However, he added, “we have not received any new information regarding negotiations after the attack on Hamash Koreb”.

The Eastern Front has joined forces with the Beja Congress and Free Lions – a smaller rebel group – from the country’s Rashaida ethnic group.

The Beja Congress military wing was launched in 1994 and joined four years later in March 2005 by the Free Lions to fight marginalisation by the Sudanese government.

(ST)