Sudanese army preparing for major military campaign against rebels: official
November 11, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is readying to launch a massive military campaign in the coming days against rebel positions, a senior official said on Monday.
On Friday evening, dozens of military trucks and tanks loaded with soldiers were seen in Khartoum on their way to conflict zones, disrupting traffic for hours on one road south of the capital.
Last month, the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) released imagery showing SAF beefing up its military presence in bases in North and South Kordofan states.
According to SSP, satellite images reviewed by DigitalGlobe Analytics show unusually high levels of activity at SAF military installations in the region, which could signal planned deployments toward several locations, including the highly contested Abyei area.
SSP, which was founded by Hollywood actor George Clooney in 2010 along with Enough project co-founder John Prendergast, said the build-up threatens vulnerable Sudanese civilians in South Kordofan, while re-positioned aerial assets at El Obeid and Kadugli could potentially also signal a threat to Abyei, where tensions are running high following a recent unilateral referendum staged by the Ngok Dinka community.
The border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile have been witnessing armed conflict between the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) and SAF since 2011.
SPLM-N is also a member of the rebel coalition known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which also includes rebel groups from Darfur.
‘NOT REFORMISTS’
Meanwhile, Nafie blasted a number of self-described reformists within the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), saying their goal is to dissolve the regime.
Nafie named Islamist figures and university professors al-Tayeb Zain al-Abdeen and Abdel-Wahab al-Affendi, along with al-Mahboub Abdel-Salam from the Popular Congress Party (PCP) as leading these efforts to topple the government.
He accused the group of seeking to execute their agendas after first proliferating it abroad, saying they had nothing to do with the NCP or the Islamic Movement (IM).
The former presidential adviser and ex-head of the parliamentary caucus for the NCP, Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani, along with two others, had last month faced calls for their dismissal over a highly publicised memo they sent to president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in September following protests that broke out in the wake of the government’s decision to cut fuel subsidies which nearly doubled prices of gasoline and diesel.
The signatories, who included lawmakers and retired army officers, called for subsidies to be reinstated due to its “harsh” impact on ordinary Sudanese, also demanding that the government prosecute those behind the use excessive violence against protestors.
They also urged Bashir to form a mechanism for national reconciliation comprised of various political forces and assign the economic dossier to a professional national economic team.
Al-Attabani and other dismissed members announced their intention to form a new party which was downplayed by the NCP as having little significance.
(ST)