Khartoum says new Islamist rebellion emerges in central Sudan

KHARTOUM, Oct 21 (AFP) — The Sudanese authorities on Thursday said a new rebel movement with links to jailed Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi had emerged in the central Kordofan region, an official said in Thursday’s Akhbar al-Yom daily.

West Kordofan Governor Salman Suleiman Safi said the group was called “Shahama” (Arabic for valiant) but stressed it was “isolated and has no support in the population of Kordofan”, a key region that lies between crisis-hit Darfur and Khartoum.

Safi said the rebels’ leader is Mussa Ali Mohammedin, a member of the Popular Congress of Hassan al-Turabi, a one-time mentor of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir who was jailed last March for allegedly plotting a coup.

He said the movement, whose size remains unknown, has its bases in the Bahr al-Ghazal region, part of which is controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the group that has been waging a 21-year civil war with the government in the south of the country.