Abdel Rahim: No war in Darfur

Sudan’s defense minister claims the government is only facing resistance from a ‘small group in North Darfur’

General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, Sudan’s minister of defense, denied on Saturday the presence of any fighting or war in Darfur.Abdel Rahim said, in a speech during the annual Army ceremony in Khartoum, that there was no rebellion in Darfur. He added that the Sudanese forces only met resistance from a “small group confined to North Darfur.”

In response to this statement, Sueliman Sandal, commander-in-chief of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Radio Dabanga, “The war in Darfur has not and will not end until the victory of the marginalized forces. It won’t be over until we bring down the regime in Khartoum.”

He added that the resistance forces present in Darfur as well as Kordofan were better trained and equipped now than ever before.

Commenting on Abdel Radhim’s statement about the presence of a negligible resistance concentrated in North Darfur, Suleiman Sandal said, “The last fought battles led by resistance forces were in the Valley of Morocco in North Darfur in July and in South Kordofan the last month.”

He called the defence minister a liar and the speech, a part of propaganda to raise the morale of the troops and militias of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

A recent report released by the United Nations human rights office said that the atrocities committed by the Sudanese regime in South Kordofan could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, if ratified.