Egypt allows senior Darfur JEM figures to leave the country

By Wasil Ali

May 24, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The Egyptian authorities have allowed senior members of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to leave the country after being held for more than a week.

Ahmed Tugd, top negotiator for the Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Sharif and Mohamed Ali were initially served expulsion orders but then the Egyptian government took them into custody.

JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein confirmed to Sudan Tribune by phone their release.

Multiple sources told Sudan Tribune that Egypt’s spy chief Omar Suleiman, who was in Israel at the time, is the one who took the decision to block the three JEM members from leaving despite an earlier decision to throw them out.

Egyptian authorities were angered by Tugud’s statements to the Al-Jazeera Arabic TV in which he said that JEM controlled important parts of the Sudanese capital during the May 10 attack.

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.

Sudanese officials have requested that neighboring countries hand over JEM figures residing on their territory.

The Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Baset Sabdarat hinted that to the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published in London last week that Cairo intends to extradite the three rebel members.

Sabdarat also said that his government asked the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to issue a red notice for the arrest of senior JEM figures which included Tugud, who holds British citizenship, as well as Hussein.

The move by Cairo is likely to anger Khartoum despite both countries enjoying good political relations. The daily Al-Rayaam said that the head of Sudan’s national assembly hinted that Khartoum will reconsider its relationship with any country that does not cooperate with the extradition requests.

Egypt had reacted strongly to JEM attack on Khartoum. In a statement condemning the assault, Cairo warned against any attempt to destabilize the security and political situation in Sudan. President Hosni Mubarak also was the first to phone the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir after the attack.

However the Egyptian government has a long standing history of not sending political opponents back to their home countries. Some analysts have also pointed out that Cairo fears that such a step would put the life of its peacekeeping troops in Darfur at risk.

An Egyptian military officer by the name Lieutenant-Colonel Ehab Nazih, was assassinated by three unknown armed men at his residence in Darfur a year ago. Nazih was part of the UN force serving in the war ravaged region.

(ST)