Army captain flees with $1m
2008-04-10 20:21
Khartoum - A Sudanese army captain has run off to Chad with banknotes worth $1m and could have defected to a rebel group battling Khartoum in Darfur, the military said on Thursday.
Captain Jamal Mahmud was given seven million Sudanese pounds ($3.4m) to pay soldiers and ranking officers in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state which borders Chad, Major Abdul Samie Haj Ahmed said.
He dished out five million pounds in salaries before fleeing to Chad on Monday with the remaining two million.
'He's a thieving dog'
"He's a thieving dog. We have opened a case against him for embezzlement and going AWOL.
"But I also believe he defected to the JEM," Haj Ahmed told AFP, referring to a Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement.
But As-Sudani newspaper quoted an official from the Chadian presidency as saying the captain had been arrested inside Chad and found in possession of the money.
He allegedly confessed to being in Chad to pay salaries to "janjaweed," the name given to Khartoum-backed militia fighting against Sudanese rebels in Darfur, and Chadian rebels, the newspaper said.
Sudan and Chad relations deteriorating
Chad claimed on Wednesday that thousands of rebels were massed in Sudan ready to attack, amid a war of words between the two neighbours since the signing of the latest peace deal on March 13, aimed at ending their five-year conflict.
On Tuesday, the top African and UN envoys to Darfur said the deteriorating relations between Chad and Sudan were a major reason for stalled efforts to solve the conflict between Khartoum and rebels in western Sudan.