Sudan warns rebels against attempting to attack Khartoum

May 12, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan said today that rebels from the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) will face “disastrous consequences” if they dared to launch an attack on the capital city of Khartoum.

“[They] won’t be able to attack Khartoum, however, if they dared to do so, their fate would be much worse than Khalil [leader of Darfur Justice and Equality Movement]” the national parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir said in a meeting with the media yesterday.

In 2008 Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched a surprise attack on Omdurman, on the West of the Nile from Sudan’s capital Khartoum. It was repulsed but caused shock waves throughout the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

Al-Tahir lambasted the opposition parties and described their stances regarding the SRF’s recent attack on Um Rawaba and Abu Kershola in north and south Kordofan states as “misty” and accused them of secretly sympathising with the SRF with the hope that they can manage to overthrow the regime.

“The opposition parties want to topple the regime by all means, be it demonstrations, force, or the SRF”, he said.

The speaker also accused Israel and the United States of supporting the SRF to execute a plan which aims at destabilising Sudan’s western region and other parts of the country.

He urged media outlets to support the army saying that SRF avoids direct confrontation and seeks instead to exhaust the army by launching small military operations.

Al-Tahir further said that there must be no negotiations with Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), considering resumption of negotiations at present time a “defeat” for the army.

(ST)