Sudan threatens to uncover names of countries involved in rebel assault

May 19, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan intends to reveal the names of countries that provided the support for the rebel attack on the capital last week, a Sudanese official said today.

The speaker of the Sudanese national assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Taher said that the Chad along with other countries provided the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) with military help in their attack.

Al-Taher said in statements reported by the daily Al-Rayaam said that severing relations with Chad was a “natural reaction” but ruled out a declaration of war.

JEM fighters mounted an assault on the Sudanese capital that took the government and international community by surprise. However the Sudanese government repulsed the attack and accused Chad of backing JEM in its attempt.

The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir said in a televised address that he holds Chad responsible of the foiled attack by JEM troops against the Sudanese capital. He also announced that diplomatic relations with Chad have been broken.

The Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail echoed Al-Tahir accusations in a press conference in Doha Qatar and said that weapons used by JEM are “very advanced” and not available in Chad “which means that other countries supplied it to them”.

However Ismail declined to name these countries.

Sudanese officials have persistently hinted at the involvement of Libya and to a lesser extent France in the deadly attack near Khartoum.

One source in Khartoum speaking to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity said there are unconfirmed reports being circulated at the highest levels of government speaking of Libyan planes dropping off JEM fighters and weapons near the Jebel Uwainat area located at the border triangle of Libya/Egypt/Sudan.

“The Egyptians detected these planes and informed the Sudanese government” the source said.

Sudanese columnist Osman Mirghani of the daily Al-Sudani newspaper said he does not have any specific information on Libyan involvement but suggested that circumstantial evidences support the accusations.

“The Libyans were angered by the Saudi mediation between Chad and Sudan which came shortly after a similar initiative by Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi. They considered that an insult to them” he said.

Mirghani said that shortly after Al-Qadhafi’s statements in which he described the Saudi initiative as “laughable” in May 2007 the Sudanese president visited Egypt to convince them to put a leash on the Libyan leader and prevent him from making any “irrational” move in retaliation.

He also recounted how Tripoli stood against Sudan’s bid to chair the African Union and expelled Sudanese diplomats as well as withholding money from African troops in Darfur saying that Al-Bashir demonstrated “negative attitude towards it, and to some of its neighbors”.

However it is not clear if the Sudanese government will go as far as formally accusing Libya of involvement and risk alienating their Arab neighbor.

The Sudanese government also implied France’s involvement in JEM attack by saying that a Western country guided the fighters through the satellite which helped them avoid government troops on their way to the capital.

France has a long-term military presence in Chad, one of its former colonies, giving the government intelligence and logistic support.

Khartoum has been furious at France for hosting leader of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur and has persistently demanded that he be expelled.

Last March French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he called the “deliberate and disproportionate” use of force by Sudan in the killing of a French soldier serving with European Union forces in Chad (EUFOR).

The defense ministry in Paris said the soldiers who strayed across the border encountered a Sudanese checkpoint and quickly declared their identity, but were fired on without warning.

The Sudanese government has strongly opposed the French backed initiative for deployment of the 3,700-strong EUFOR mission being deployed in eastern Chad to protect refugees displaced by violence in neighboring Sudan’s Darfur region.

(ST)