Darfur rebels claims capture of 25 vehicles after attack

December 15, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A Darfur rebel group claimed it captured 25 military vehicles during an attack carried out against the Sudanese army in North Darfur.

In a sign of the escalation of violence in the war-torn Darfur region, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said Saturday in a military communiqué it captured 25 army vehicles from the Sudanese army and destroyed a similar number of vehicles.

JEM said it engaged a battalion of the Sudanese army moving between Sibra and Saliaa in North Darfur.

“Government battalion was summarily defeated.” The statement added.

JEM didn’t indicate the exact number of causalities among the Sudanese army. However it indicated that one of its commanders was killed during the attack.

“Unfortunately, JEM lost its Commander Athak Thom, a fine fellow fighter and an inspiring JEM member, from the south of the country.”The rebel group said.

The rebel military statement also said JEM Kordofan Military Division has destroyed the Oil Filed of Difra in south Kordufan.

The rebel movement pledged to release details of the operation soon.

this is the first time that JEM mentions the existence of southern Sudanese among its troops.

This is the first serious attack from JEM against the Sudanese army since the announcement by Khartoum last October of a unilateral ceasefire at the beginning of the AU-UN mediated Darfur peace talks in Sirte, Libya.

JEM with the SLM of Abdelwahid al-Nur and the SPLM-Unity boycott the negotiations.

Khalil Ibrahim, who didn’t meet the UN envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, last week for security reasons, said he had told the UN envoy by telephone that they would not participate in the peace process unless the UN signs a protocol with them on the role of the mediation, the place and date of talks and who will be invited to attend from the rebel groups.

In the past months Khalil Ibrahim said they want only two groups, JEM and the SLM.

Khalil told Akhbar al-Youm daily also that the mediation team works to marginalize their role in the talks through the invitation of all the factious groups to take part the talks.

More than four years of violence in Darfur had killed more than 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes, according to international experts. Khartoum says the international media has exaggerated the conflict and only 9,000 have died.

(ST)