Sudanese army and rebels both claim victory in South Darfur battles
April 26, 2015 (NYALA) – Conflicting reports surfaced on Sunday about fierce fighting in South Darfur between government forces, and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM)
SAF spokesperson, Colonel al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad said their troops lured the rebels into a battle field of their choice, noting that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) clashed with them on Sunday morning at al-Nikhara area, south of the locality of Tulus in South Darfur and inflicted on them heavy losses in lives and equipment.
He stressed in a statement on Sunday the RSF seized more than 100 rebel vehicles, pointing they are currently carrying out extensive chasing and combing operations in the area.
The spokesperson said that SAF and the RSF set up ambushes to the “terrorists groups” in all possible roads leading to South Darfur, saying the latter received training South Sudan.
South Darfur governor Adam Mahmoud Jar El-Nabi On Saturday said that rebel fighters had crossed into the state from neighbouring South Sudan.
Sa’ad accused South Sudan of supporting and harbouring Darfur rebel groups, saying that JEM fighters received training in Raja area in Bahr el-Ghazal state for several months at the hands of foreign military experts to carry out acts of sabotage against targets inside Sudan including oilfields, banks, and commercial markets.
He noted that SAF and the RSF have been closely following those moves, and said they brought the issue to the attention of South Sudan’s government several times and warned them that it constitutes a violation to the international conventions and bilateral agreements between the two countries.
“However South Sudan continued to support and harbour the terrorists and identified to them the border-crossings to enter the Sudanese [territory],” he added
The military spokesperson underscored that SAF, RSF, Popular Defence Forces (PDF) and all regular forces would continue to monitor and protect roads and border-crossing to prevent infiltrations of the rebel groups.
REBEL DENIAL
JEM spokesperson Gibreel Adam Bilal denied the government claim of capturing over 100 rebel vehicles. He further said that their fighters took the control of the positions of Sudanese govenment in Tulus.
Bilal added that they killed the SRF commander in the area, Jodah, one of his officers Captain Hamad Hassab-Allah Hamdoun and dozens of soldiers and militiamen, pointing that hundreds of injured troops were transported to Nyala hospital.
According to the rebel official, JEM fighters also seized large number of vehicles, weapons, ammunition, and supplies.
SLM-MM military spokesperson Ahmed Adaroub, claimed that a joint rebel force from SLM-MM and JEM controls Buram, 80km south of South Darfur capital Nyala.
He said in a short statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday that SLM-MM and JEM fighters captured the town on Saturday at about 10am (local time) following heavy clashes in which many government soldiers and allied militias were killed.
Sudan Tribune‘s correspondent in South Darfur said that clashes took place in the locality of Damso, south of South Darfur capital, Nyala besides al-Nakhara area west of Damso, stressing that Buram has not fallen into the hands of the rebels.
The reporter affirmed that 63 injured soldiers arrived at Nyala military hospital on Sunday, pointing out that information coming from military operations zones is scarce due to the breakdown of communications network in the localities of Giraida, Tulus, Buram, El-Radoom, Kateela and Damaso.
Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that more than 500 military vehicles loaded with soldiers and ordnance had entered the southern localities of Buram and al-Radoum since Thursday, saying warplanes have been also hovering over the skies of the area.
The director of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta, said on Saturday that the RSF troops are carrying intensive operations in Darfur against the rebel factions and vowed to crush the rebellion this year.
Earlier this year, Atta renewed accusations that South Sudanese government continues to harbour and support Darfur rebel groups but Juba denied the claim.
Since last December the government forces launched a military campaign on the rebel positions in North and Central Darfur states.
(ST)