Sudanese president vows to annihilate Darfur rebels
KHARTOUM, Dec 31 (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has vowed to annihilate the Darfur rebels in western Sudan, declaring this a top priority for his government.
Meanwhile the Sudanese government announced its intention of complaining to international bodies over neighbouring Eritrea’s alleged backing for the Darfur rebels and disturbing the peace of Sudan, a day after Asmara denied aiding them.
“Our top priority will be the annihilation of the rebellion and any outlaw who carries arms” against the state, Beshir was quoted by the official Sudanese daily Al-Anbaa as saying late Tuesday.
He described the Darfur rebels as “hirelings, traitors, agents and renegades whom the enemies of the Sudan employed for carrying out their plots against the country.”
Beshir said the rebels were a small group “not representing the people of Darfur in any way and are pursuing personal ambitions of seizing power not only in Darfur but also in Kordofan and even in Khartoum.”
He said that after “uprooting” the rebellion, the authorities would collect arms from all civilians and hand them over to the army and other regular forces.
Beshir was speaking to a delegation representing people from the western Kulbus locality, residing in Khartoum. He called on them to form a brigade and head to Darfur, west Sudan, to help eradicate the rebellion.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail for his part said here Wednesday that Khartoum “will notify the regional and international organisations of Eritrea’s practices against Sudan, particularly its involvement in the events in Darfur and its support to the rebels there for disturbing security and stability in the country.”
Eritrea on Tuesday denied backing rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region and said criticism from fellow Horn of Africa states was made to hide their own “deep internal problems”.
The leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen wrapped up a tripartite summit in Addis Ababa on Monday by accusing Eritrea of being a destabilising influence in the region.
Eritrea has for its part dubbed the three states the “axis of belligerence”.
The head of the president’s office in Asmara, Yemane Gebremeskel, told reporters that Sudan’s allegations in particular were “totally baseless”.
“The Sudanese cannot attribute their problems to outsiders. Sudan’s problems arose because it was engaged in exporting fundamentalism to the region,” he said.
In another development, the Eritrean embassy here said one of its diplomats had disappeared after being ordered to return to Asmara.
An embassy official who requested anonymity said a report in Al-Anbaa that Abdallah Mohamed Ali had quit in protest against the Eritrean government’s Asmara’s internal policies was fabricated by “certain agencies,” which he declined to name.
“After serving the set three-year assignment in the consular section, Ali was notified by the foreign ministry in Asmara of his transfer to headquarters and instead of heading for Asmara he just disappeared and we just heard that he had travelled to a European country,” he said.