SRF: entering Kordofan a first step towards toppling Sudan regime

Rebel alliance Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) announced that entering North Kordofan and White Nile marks the beginning of the New Dawn Charter “which aims at toppling the Sudan regime”. The New Dawn Charter was signed by most Sudanese opposition parties and all major rebel groups. It calls for the overthrow of Bashir’s regime and for a restructure of state institutions.Abu al-Qasim Imam El Haj, SRF spokesman and one of the “launchers of the attack” in North Kordofan last Saturday, said the operation last weekend was “the first victory” of the rebels’ alliance under a new chairmanship. The conquest is referred to the “seizure” of El Rahad and Umm Rawaba in North Kordofan, and of Tandalti and Samih in White Nile, along with Abu Karshola in South Kordofan. Rebels, El Haj said, did not encounter “the slightest resistance” of the government when entering these areas and he noted SRF forces are currently situated “only 350km” away from Khartoum. SRF’s new chairman is Chief Commander Abdul Aziz Al Hilu, and Saturday’s attacks were led by Brigadier Kukuo Idriss Azraq. They also included five battalions: Al Zulzal, Agrab, Usood Al Sudan, Nafas Al Fajr Al Jadid, and Al Tofan. “New Dawn operation” Speaking to Radio Dabanga from the battlefield, El Haj stressed that the “New Dawn operation” is not aimed against the Sudanese people or their properties as “propagated by state media”. Rather, he continued, the goal of the operation is to restore the dignity and the freedom of the Sudanese people. “Khartoum is the greatest looter, thief and abuser, which takes advantage of the money, properties and capabilities of its people. Its corrupt records attest that it is the greatest enemy” of the country’s population, SRF spokesman said. El Haj continued suggesting that the ruling party inflicted “all kinds of torture, starvation, deprivation, murder, rape and displacement” on its people, “to the extent that top leaders of Sudan are now wanted by the international justice”. SRF spokesman said the rebels would target all strategic locations used by the regime “for killing and displacing civilians” and he promised to deliver “good news” soon to the Sudanese people. Local witnesses For their part, local witnesses in Abu Karshola said the SRF remains in control of the area, adding rebels raised their flag and formed local civil administration committees in the town. They also said that all officers who led the attacks in Umm Rawaba and in Abu Karshola hailed from the region. They include, according to sources, Brigadier Khalifa Dinar, Sheikh Adam Hassan and police Major Faisal Musa. UN aid boss ‘shocked’ In a statement, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan announced to be “shocked” by the attack last Saturday on Umm Rawaba carried out by the SRF. The rebels are said to have overpowered local security forces, fired at government buildings and looted the market. They also reportedly killed an unconfirmed number of policemen in the surprise attack on the town, which lies east of the state’s capital El Obeid on the route to capital of White Nile State. After the SRF raid in Umm Rawaba, the Sudanese army announced it was back in control of the town. A source said hundreds of families were displaced by the rebels attack. JEM, one of SRF alliance members, confirmed its role in the events in Umm Rawaba: “The goal of this attack is to weaken the government to realize our strategic plan to topple the regime”. SRF on Saturday said it had liberated two garrisons in a nearby area and continued “chasing government forces until they entered Umm Rawaba city”. The move, they said, came in “retaliation to the perfidious attacks carried out by Khartoum in the previous days”.File photo: 18 March 2011. Rebel forces in East Jebel Marra (Albert Gonzalez Farran/ UNAMID)Related: UN aid boss ‘shocked’ by North Kordofan attack, Sudan (29 April 2013)