Justice and Equality rebels announce names of 19 war prisoners

The Justice and Equality Movement announced the names of 20 military personnel captured on Tuesday, 22 June, in fighting at Um Katkout, including two officers with the rank of lieutenant. The rebels identified 9 of the 19 as being from the Border Guards militia, while another two were from the Central Reserve and eight had military identification cards.The movement said that the prisoners will be released through the Red Cross. It also denied having been defeated in fighting earlier this week at ‘Uzban Duma and Um Katkout in eastern Darfur. JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam told Radio Dabanga that the movement’s forces defeated the Sudanese government’s forces in every battle and forced them to flee. He pointed to these prisoners, who surrendered at the battle of Um Katkout, as the biggest proof of that. He was responding to a claim made by the army spokesman that the Sudan Armed Forces had killed 43 rebel fighters and injured 90 others. These figures were disputed by another JEM official who put them far lower, at three or five killed and eight injured, according to different statements attributed to him in the media.