Thousands of Sudanese march in support of Hezbollah

July 24, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Thousands of Sudanese protesters marched in downtown Khartoum Monday to support Hezbollah on the 13th day of the Lebanon crisis.

“Go for jihad (holy war)” and “We back you Nasrallah,” shouted demonstrators in the capital’s Martyrs Square, referring to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

Banners attacked the “silence” of Arab leaders and the United Nations over Israel’s shelling of Lebanon, with some protesters taping “U.N.” over their mouths. Another banner read: “Palestine, Lebanon and Darfur are the same question.”

More than 180,000 people have died since the Darfur conflict began in early 2003 when members of ethnic African tribes rose in revolt against the Arab-led Khartoum government.

Monday’s march was organized by the Popular Organization for the Defense of the Homeland and the Faith – an umbrella body of political parties, trade unions, women associations, student unions and Islamic religious groups.

Demonstrators later handed in a letter at the U.N. office in Khartoum.

The letter accused the world organization of being “a stooge” of the U.S. and attacked it for failing to denounce Israel’s alleged violations of international law.

(AP/ST)