Hemeti: ‘Former Sudan intelligence chief responsible for mutiny’

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ accused Salah Gosh, former director of the now restructured National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), of being responsible for the shooting in the air that took place in Khartoum and El Obeid yesterday.

Hemeti made the accusation at a press conference in Juba, South Sudan, where peace negotiations take place between the Sudanese government and a number of rebel movements.

Yesterday, Operations Authority combatants of the former security apparatus fired in the air with machine guns in Khartoum and El Obeid, in protest against low financial rewards and after-service payments.

At the end of July last year, the then ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) decided to reform Sudan's infamous security apparatus, to adjust its competences, and to change its name to General Intelligence Service (GIS). In August, the TMC decided to dissolve the GIS Operations Authority and to give its more than 10,000 members the choice to join either the army or the RSF government militia.

Heavy weapons

According to Hemeti, the Operations Authority still possesses heavy weapons. Collecting weapons from them has been delayed for six months, he said.

Hemeti accused GIS Director Lt Gen Abubakir Dambalab of failing “to deter the apparatus's outlaw acts despite having been warned on Monday”. He added that those behind the violent protests will be held accountable.

The RSF militia commander further pointed to an alleged plot set-up by former NISS officers and former members of Al Bashir’s now dissolved National Congress Party. He asserted that they plotted to incite conflicts on January 18 and 28.

In September, the Public Prosecutor in Omdurman issued an arrest warrant for former NISS chief Salah Gosh on charges of first-degree murder.

In October, Attorney General Tajelsir El Hibir took measures to lift the immunity of members of Sudan’s defunct National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), allowing them to face charges from the Public Prosecution.

Shot

The Sudan Doctors Central Committee reported yesterday evening that a 15-year-old boy was hit in his jaw by a bullet in Khartoum.

The doctors said in a statement that the people in Khartoum were terrified by the indiscriminate shooting, and by army forces blocking the roads.

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