Violence flares in Sudan
2005-06-21 14:26
Khartoum - Sudanese rebels pressed on Tuesday with an offensive against government troops near the Red Sea, sparking accusations of Eritrean involvement and fears of a new conflict.
Khartoum and a coalition of rebel groups were both claiming victory, two days after some of the worst fighting in years broke out south of Port Sudan in the eastern Red Sea state.
"Khartoum says they have stopped our progress, it is not true. All the defences of our enemy are broken. The Khartoum troops remain with no commander," said rebel leader Salah Barqueen.
Barqueen is a member of Beja Congress, a rebel group that recently formed the Eastern Front with the Free Lions, another tribal-based movement from eastern Sudan.
Government troops captured
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a group with ties to Sudan's jailed Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi currently involved in the Darfur conflict but with a national base, also took part in the offensive.
A statement signed by the Joint Eastern Forces — which includes JEM and the Eastern Front — claimed 17 government troops, including a senior officer, were captured by their men.
The statement said attacks on a garrison led to the seizure of a significant amount of weaponry during the rebel push towards the town of Tokar, half-way between the border with Eritrea and Port Sudan.
"This is our biggest operation in several years," Barqueen said on Monday.
Red Sea state governor major general Hatim al-Wasilah al-Sammani accused Eritrea of backing the offensive and warned the rebels of retaliatory operations by government forces.
Asmara has accused its northwestern neighbour of persecuting its nationals in Sudan, while Khartoum has repeatedly charged the small Red Sea country of assisting several Sudanese rebel organisations.
Rebels seek new battlefield
Sammani also charged that Darfur rebel groups were seeking a new battlefield as peace negotiations with Khartoum on the strife that has torn apart western Sudan were under way in Nigeria.
He suggested a recent reconciliation agreement between Sudan's main opposition grouping — the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — and Khartoum had fuelled anger among the eastern rebels.
Like their counterparts in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the ethnic minority rebels in the eastern states of Red Sea and Kassala complain of marginalisation by the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum.
The Beja Congress and Free Lions are officially members of the NDA but they pulled out of the reconciliation talks in Cairo.
"We want a comprehensive solution to the problems of Sudan," said the JEM's Abdelaziz Osher. "As long as the government offers a piecemeal solution, even if there is an agreement on Darfur, we will continue the struggle somewhere else."
The deal with the NDA was hailed as another step towards stabilising Africa's largest country, following a January peace agreement between Khartoum and John Garang's southern rebels.