Sudan defence minister visits Darfur’s Kutum after fighting
Dec 22, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese Minister of Defence Maj-Gen Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein yesterday paid a surprise visit to Kutum town, in North Darfur, to inspect the armed forces in the area following bloody fighting between government forces and Darfur rebels.
The minister commended the armed forces and praised their repulsion of the rebel forces, the Khartoum based al-Ray al-Aam reported Friday.
In a press statement, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesperson Brig-Gen Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash said that government forces had managed to repel the aggressors who attacked Shaq al-Nakharah village, 10 km south of Kutum, and had inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment.
He said 200 people had been killed; including the rebels’ commander, six heavy guns and sixteen armoured vehicles had been destroyed, while four vehicles mounted with guns had been seized.
The SAF spokesperson said the armed forces had lost four soldiers and 20 members had been injured. He accused the National Redemption Front of carrying out the attack.
But the rebel group denied SAF statement on the massive causalities. The NRF said it totally destroyed the Sudanese army troops while 35 had surrendered.
On the other hand, the Commander of North Darfur sector of SLA-al-Nur, Suleiman Marjan on Wednesday told Sudan Tribune the fighting occurred while his troops moving from the South Darfur to the north of the region on Kutum-Al Fasher road.
Also, SLM/A commanders who were part of Minawi group but defected from his faction said according to a statement issued by Esameldin al-Haj, the spokesperson of the group Thursday that SLA forces fought the Sudanese army near Kutum.
Esameldin al-Haj said in his statement that the “SLM/A forces and “its allied forces” repulsed an attack by the Sudanese army. He further indicated that the SLA forces downed two helicopters.
The different SLA factions and the NRF forces work in Darfur side by side in the whole Darfur after the signing of the Darfur Peace agreement on 5 May which was followed by the intensification of attack from Khartoum and its militia against the holdout rebels’ positions.
(ST)