Former Darfur rebel commander attacked by fellow fighters
March 11, 2015 (El-FASHIR) – A field commander at the former rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) faction led by Bakheit Abdallah Dabago (JEM-Dabago) was wounded in an attack carried out by fellow soldiers in North Darfur capital, El-Fasher.
Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that several fighters on two heavily armed four-wheel drive vehicles torched Saboon’s house besides two other houses during clashes with his bodyguards.
They further said the two sides exchanged heavy fire sowing fear among residents of the neighborhood, adding that security forces arrived at the scene but did not interfere.
A JEM-Dabago official told Sudan Tribune that the attackers sought unsuccessfully to arrest Saboon.
Last month, several JEM-Dabago fighters attacked the house of the movement’s chairman, Bakheit Abdallah Dabago, leading to injuries among his guards and the attackers.
JEM-Dabago suffers from internal divisions between some fighters and Dabago particularly following implementation of the security arrangement item of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
Fighters accuse the chairman of assigning his family members to military ranks following reintegration of the movement’s fighters into the Sudanese army.
In April 2013, the breakaway group inked a peace agreement negotiated with the Sudanese government on the basis of the DDPD.
However the killing of its leader, Mohamed Bashar, near the Chadian border delayed the implementation of the peace deal, and a new leader, Bakheit Abdallah Dabago was appointed.
In August 2014, the Sudanese army integrated 1,350 combatants from JEM-Dabago in North Darfur in implementation of the security arrangements of the DDPD.
(ST)