Darfur rebels refute UN accusation over attack against AU force
November 30, 2007 (LONDON) — The rebel Justice and Equality Movement denied recent accusation in a UN report on its responsibility over the last September attack against African Union peacekeepers position in northern Darfur.
The UN Secretary General on November 5 said in a report to the Security Council that “Preliminary results of an investigation initiated by the AMIS Force Commander immediately after the attack on the AMIS military group site in Haskanita on 29 and 30 September suggest that the attack was conducted by rebels entering the camp in vehicles bearing the inscription “JEM”.
At least 10 AU soldiers died in the assault. More than 20 were still missing last night, some 48 hours after the attack. Originally 50 had been unaccounted for.
JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein Adam, told Sudan Tribune in an interview conducted on 27 November that the African Union peacekeeping force and its commander, General Martin Luther Agwai, know very well who is behind this attack.
Ahmed disclosed that Gen. Agwai condemned these allegations and pledged to probe its source. The commander of the hybrid force, in a telephone conversation with the rebel official, hailed the good collaboration between JEM and AU force.
He further reaffirmed that he had never accused JEM of this attack.
Ahmed revealed that after the attack JEM was the sole rebel movement to provide the AU mission with information about the identity of the assailants. According to the rebel spokesman JEM cooperated with AU investigation team. Also Khalil Ibrahim, the JEM leader, had proposed during a meeting with Gen. Agwai last month to form a joint team to find out “the culprits.”
Ban Ki-Moon said in his report related to the deployment of the Hybrid Operation that “the motive of the attack appears to have been looting of AMIS logistical equipment.”
Ahmad wondered why the UN launches these allegations at this time insisting that Darfur people have a just cause and “We always collaborated and defended the AU troops in Darfur and they can tell you about that.”
He further said that in September 2005, JEM even had staged military action to free AU soldiers detained “by some bandit groups in Darfur and we suffered many causalities.” He asserted.
The rebel spokesperson that his movement requests clarification from the AU investigators and this must be done as quickly as possible. He said.
He also said that the sole beneficiary from Haskanita attack is Khartoum government which acts day and night to destabilize the deployment of the 26000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
Up to the second week of September, JEM and SLM-Unity troops were located in Haskanita, but following several attacks and air strikes by the Sudanese army to liberate a detained general, the rebels evacuated the town.
In the past Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of JEM, had accused a splinter faction of carrying out the attack against the AU position in Haskanita.
The AU base at Haskanita is strategically important. It is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the boundary between Darfur and the neighboring region of Khordofan. The Darfur rebels have been trying to link up with new rebel groups in Kordofan, where there are large fields of Sudan’s proven oil reserves.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict and 2.5 million driven from their homes, but Sudan says only 9,000 have died.
(ST)