Sudan accuse Darfur rebel SLM of sabotage plot in capital
September 20, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese authorities accused a Darfur rebel group of planning sabotage acts in Khartoum yesterday.
Khartoum’s deputy head of police Mohamed Naguib al-Tayeb said that demonstrators threw a bomb at a petrol tanker as it was unloading at a fuel station in the densely populated heart of the capital on Thursday.
“Police successfully foiled the attack and arrested some of the protestors who numbered around 20 in all,” underlining that “a potential catastrophe was averted.”
The police official said that members of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid al-Nur requested their permission for a demonstration to press for the resolution of the Darfur crisis.
He said that the request was denied after which they threatened to stage a bombing campaign inside Khartoum.
However rebel sources told Sudan Tribune that Abdelwahid suppoters staged pacific protests in various parts of Khartoum yesterday to demand protection of Darfur civilians before the peace talks.
The police police said the incident wounded six people witout elaboration.
The Sudanese daily al-Sudani cited witnesses as saying the demonstrators carried pictures of Nur. While Al-Watan newspaper raised the spectre of the more than four-year-old conflict in Darfur spilling over into the Sudanese capital.
(ST)