Egyptian pilots took part in Darfur war: former US diplomat
Andrew Natsios, former US envoy to Sudan, disclosed that Egyptians pilots took part in attacks in Darfur during the war there. He made this remark at a symposium organized by Georgetown University in Washington, DC on Tuesday. Natsios was referring to the Sudanese government’s problems in getting some of its own forces to fight in the war that began in 2003. Natsios said: “Four Darfuri officers would not man their planes during the bombing attacks. You know most of the bombing was not done by the Sudanese air force, by Sudanese officers — did you know that in Darfur? They were Egyptian officers and officers who were mercenaries from other Arab countries, they hired to bring them in. Because the Sudanese officers, many of them were from Darfur who were aircraft pilots. And they wouldn’t fight. They would not man the planes.”
Andrew Natsios, former US envoy to Sudan, disclosed that Egyptians pilots took part in attacks in Darfur during the war there. He made this remark at a symposium organized by Georgetown University in Washington, DC on Tuesday. Natsios was referring to the Sudanese government’s problems in getting some of its own forces to fight in the war that began in 2003.
Natsios said: “Four Darfuri officers would not man their planes during the bombing attacks. You know most of the bombing was not done by the Sudanese air force, by Sudanese officers — did you know that in Darfur? They were Egyptian officers and officers who were mercenaries from other Arab countries, they hired to bring them in. Because the Sudanese officers, many of them were from Darfur who were aircraft pilots. And they wouldn’t fight. They would not man the planes.”
An audio recording of the event was made available at Georgetown University’s website.
Andrew Natsios was the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan from October 2006 to December 2007. Before that he served for nearly five years as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
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