Sudan says rebels may have assisted Hezbollah in arms smuggling

April 20, 2009 (CAIRO) — A Sudanese diplomat said today that some rebel groups in his country may have collaborated with the Lebanese group Hezbollah in smuggling arms to Egypt.

“Sudan cannot agree or endorse to be the bridge for smuggling arms and equipments to neighboring countries particularly Egypt considering its main axis in Nile basin national security” the Sudanese deputy ambassador Idriss Suleiman told the Kuwaiti based Al-Rai newspaper in an interview.

This month Egyptian authorities accused Hezbollah of planning attacks in Egypt through a group of 49 men.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has denied his group had planned attacks in Egypt, but confirmed that Egyptian authorities had arrested a Hezbollah member working to supply military equipment to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, helped by up to 10 others.

The Sudanese diplomat said that his government was not aware of the issue of smuggling or had any indicators in this regard.

“The suspicions of [Hezbollah] dealing with rebel groups that are spread all over Sudan are real since these movements do not recognize the national sovereignty in the first place” he said.

It is not clear if he was referring to Darfur rebel groups fighting in Western Sudan. Khartoum has long accused Israel of providing support to Darfur rebels.

Suleiman said that Sudan condemns Hezbollah’s plot and “any sabotage to a country’s sovereignty under any circumstances”.

This is the first acknowledgment by a Sudanese official that the East African nation could have been used to smuggle weapons to Egypt.

Last month reports emerged that Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike in Eastern Sudan against suspected arm smugglers believed to be coordinated by Iranian government.

Khartoum has maintained silence over the air raid saying that they are still conducting their own investigation before coming up with a position but said that the victims were African migrants attempting to sneak into European countries illegally.

(ST)