UAE authorities extradite wanted Sudanese rebel leader back to Khartoum

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — United Arab Emirates authorities on Tuesday extradited to Sudan the leader of a small rebel group accused of blowing up several oil pipelines in this troubled African country.

Abdelaziz Khaled. (Sudanile).

Abdel-Aziz Khaled, a retired brigadier and head of the northern opposition group Sudan Alliance Forces, was arrested Sept. 24 at the United Arab Emirates airport of Abu Dhabi after arriving from Cairo.

Reporters saw Sudanese police escorting Khaled from an aircraft and taking him into a Khartoum airport terminal before driving him away. His opposition group issued a statement condemning his extradition, describing him as a “man fighting for legitimate political freedom.”

The Sudanese government sought his extradition through the international police agency, Interpol, accusing his group of numerous sabotage attacks on oil pipelines, which Khaled allegedly considered as legitimate targets for the opposition. He is also accused of trying to overthrown Sudan’s Islamic-oriented government.

Sudanese authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Khaled, who has not been officially charged, lived in Egypt for several months before leaving to the Emirates. His group belongs to the National Democratic Alliance, an opposition umbrella group comprising 14 political parties, trade unions and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Omar Abdel-Ati, chief of Khaled’s defense team, told hundreds of supporters who gathered at the airport that Khaled would be released soon under an amnesty issued last year by President Omar el-Bashir for opposition leaders who returned to Sudan.

Several opposition leaders have already returned to Khartoum under the amnesty and been pardoned.

Khaled stopped being a member of the NDA’s leadership board because of internal wrangling, but he maintains a limited association with the umbrella group, which was formed after the 1989 coup that brought el-Bashir to power.

The Sudanese government is now engaged in talks with the NDA in Cairo on the future steps of the democratic changes in Sudan and to reach agreement on a power-sharing formula that would include the northern opposition groups, which have felt sidelined in the peace talks between the government and southern rebels.