Sudan’s spy chief secretly visited France in June: report

August 2, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The director of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Mohamed Atta al-Moula traveled to Paris last June in secrecy where he held talks with French officials, according to a news report.

The Indian Ocean Newsletter based in France said that al-Moula’s main purpose of the visit was to attend the 49th Paris Air Show which brings together military and civilian aircraft manufacturers with prospective customers.

Quoting a diplomatic source, the report said that the Sudanese spy chief flew to Paris aboard his Falcon aircraft, one of the two models of this type owned by the Sudanese armed forces, which landed at Le Bourget airport which is a location just outside Paris where the fair takes place.

The staff at the Sudanese embassy in Paris sought to get al-Moula a VIP pass to the event by contacting the France’s external intelligence agency (DGSE). However, it was Dassault Aviation company that ultimately secured him entry into the fair.

NISS director, who on two occasions spent a couple of hours at Dassault section at the air show, was reportedly discussing the possibility of buying additional Falcon aircrafts for Sudan.

He also sought to explore whether Dassault was interested in establishing a factory in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to assemble Falcon aircrafts similar to the one in the United States.

Al-Moula also met with DGSE chief Erard Corbin de Mangoux and according to the report provided info related to forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and also conveyed the Iranian point of view on the NATO intervention there.

He also held talks with French Minister of Interior Claude Guéant and later sent one of his aides to discuss with officials in the ministry a number of issues particularly the situation in the newly independent South Sudan.

It was after this trip that al-Moula joined president Omer Hassan al-Bashir’s delegation to an anti-terrorism conference in Tehran.

The Sudanese government has been supportive of the months old armed rebellion in Libya which aims to unseat Gaddafi who has been in power for over 41 years.

Last March diplomats told Reuters that Khartoum quietly gave permission to NATO to use its airspace for enforcing the UN-mandated No Fly Zone (NFZ) over Libya.

Publicly the Sudanese have distanced themselves from NATO action despite voting in favor of an Arab League resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to impose a NFZ over Libya.

Bashir in an interview with the Guardian newspaper last April criticized the US, Britain and France for their military intervention, saying their motives were questionable and their actions risked destabilizing Sudan and the wider region.

But in separate remarks the Sudanese leader rapped his Libyan counterpart accusing him of conspiring along with Egypt against his country particularly with regard to the Darfur conflict.

The UK-based Daily Telegraph newspaper quoting NATO officials reported last month that the Sudanese army took control over the town of Kufra in Southern Libya and a nearby military base.

However, the Sudanese government denied the report saying it would only act to defend its borders.

France has taken the lead in the international military operations against the Gaddafi regime but it is not clear if al-Moula’s visit indicates a level of coordination with Khartoum.

The relationship between the two countries has been tense for years particularly over France’s support to the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for the Sudanese leader issued in 2009 in connection with war crimes in Darfur.

(ST)