Rebel commander dies after ambush in west Sudan

CAIRO, Jan 8 (Reuters) – The military commander of a rebel group in western Sudan has died after his convoy was ambushed by government forces this week, an official of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) said on Thursday.

“He has passed away,” said the official, contacted in the Darfur region by telephone, in response to a question on the status of chief of staff Abdallah Abakr.

The official, who asked not to be named, said the rebel group would issue a statement later in the day.

A member of the political bureau of the movement told Reuters on Wednesday Abakr was slightly wounded when his convoy ran into the ambush by government forces and allied irregular militias on Tuesday. But the wounds were not serious and the commander had fully recovered, he added.

The Sudanese Media Centre, a government-owned news agency, said Abakr was killed by his own men after the ambush as part of an internal conflict. The SLM/A official declined to comment on that account of events.

The agency said a group of rebels under the command of Hatir Tor al-Khalla killed Abakr in coordination with rebel leader Minni Arcua Minnawi because of a dispute over the earlier killing of al-Khalla’s younger brother, another commander.

But the Egyptian news agency MENA quoted the governor of Northern Darfur province as saying that Abakr was killed in a battle with government forces on Wednesday.

A large number of rebels, including another senior field commander, were killed and others captured, and six cars were destroyed in the skirmishes that began in the al-Kamara area, it said, quoting governor Othman Youssef.

The SLM/A official who spoke on Wednesday said the clashes were in the Abu Qumbarah area, which he placed 150 to 200 km (95 to 120 miles) north of the town of Kebkabiya.

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) is one of two rebel groups which took up arms in Darfur last year on the grounds that the Khartoum government has neglected the region.

The Sudanese government has accused Eritrea of supporting and training the Darfur rebels. Eritrea denies it.

The Darfur conflict has escalated despite the progress towards ending the 20-year-old civil war in the south.

Africa’s longest running war has pitted the Islamist government against rebels from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the mainly animist and Christian south.

Both sides signed a pact on Wednesday on how to share the oil-producing country’s wealth when the war comes to an end.