Darfur rebels attack military base, Sudan’s army calls for dialogue

The Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdel Wahid El Nur (SLM-AW), announced that it carried out an attack on the military base of Oo in Jebel Marra on Wednesday. Mustafa Tambour, SLM-AW military spokesman reported to Radio Dabanga that its combatants on Wednesday killed 17 government troops, and seized weapons and ammunition. One Land Cruiser was destroyed too. Two rebel fighters were injured during the “successful attack”.   Tambour explained that they planned the attack in response to the “miserable attempts of the Sudanese authorities to target the unity and cohesion of the armed movement”. SAF Meanwhile in Khartoum, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) stated that they are ready to “repulse any attack on the security and stability of the country, and to purge all the pockets of rebellion in the areas of operations in the near future”. In a speech on Wednesday, on the occasion of SAF’s 60th anniversary, Mustafa Osman Obeid, chairman of the SAF Chiefs of Staff, appealed to “everyone carrying arms in Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, to respond to the government’s call for dialogue”. “Only through dialogue we can achieve development, put an end to the infighting in the country, and the suffering of the people.” “Obeid seems to be a master in contracting statements,” Jibril Adam Bilal, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), commented to Radio Dabanga. “How can you threaten to militarily purge the country of insurgents, and at the same time offer them a peaceful dialogue?” “In the current situation of widespread attacks on civilians and displacement, and the detention of dozens of political activists and innocent citizens, we entirely reject any dialogue with the Khartoum regime,” Bilal stressed. “Only when the regime agrees on a road map for change, a just and comprehensive peace, and democratic transformation, we will join the dialogue.” File photo: SAF troops