UNITED NATIONS, KHARTOUM (Agencies)
The U.N. chief "condemns strongly" the recent attacks by rebel forces from Sudan's Darfur province on the capital, and calls for an end to the fighting, fearing it could hamper regional peace efforts, as the government said it defeated the attack on Khartoum.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "has expressed his grave concern at the outbreak of fighting on the outskirts of Khartoum as a result of the reported attacks by Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces against the capital," spokesman Michele Montas said in a statement.
"He condemns strongly the use of armed force and military means by JEM ... and calls for an immediate cessation of fighting," he said.
The UN chief, Montas added, "has expressed his anxiety at the effect (JEM fighting) would have on the overall situation in Sudan, as well as on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Darfur Agreement, and at the possible effect on civilian lives and property of any escalation of such attack."
 |
Khartoum attack The statement came as Sudanese authorities said that the army had repulsed an unprecedented attack on the capital Khartoum by Darfur rebels, following heavy clashes and the imposition of an emergency curfew.
"The operation is a failure," senior National Congress Party member Kamal Obeid told AFP after troops clashed with Islamist rebels across the river from Khartoum in its twin city of Omdurman, where witnesses had reported heavy fighting.
Heavy gunfire and artillery was heard in Omdurman, across the River Nile from the heart of Khartoum, capital of Africa's biggest country. Helicopters and armored vehicles headed for the fighting and an overnight curfew was declared.
"The main aim of this failed terrorist sabotage attack was to provoke media coverage and let people imagine that they had the ability to enter Khartoum," Mandour al-Mahdi, the political secretary from the dominant ruling National Congress Party told state television.
"Thank God this attempt has been completely defeated. Some high level JEM commanders were killed," he said, referring to the JEM rebels.
It is the first time that fighting has reached the capital in decades of conflict between the traditionally Arab-dominated central government in Khartoum and rebels from peripheral regions that complain of neglect.
|
|
Threat to president The rebels said earlier they had taken control of Omdurman and were now trying to oust President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
"We are now trying to control Khartoum. God willing we will take power, it's just a matter of time," senior JEM commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr told Reuters by telephone.
"We have support from inside Khartoum even from within the armed forces."
Sudan's economy, driven by increasing oil production, has grown rapidly since a peace deal between north and south ended civil war in 2005, but that agreement did not cover the conflict that erupted in Darfur five years ago.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million made homeless in five years of fighting in Darfur after rebels took up arms accusing central government of neglect.
The United States describes the conflict in Darfur as genocide, but Khartoum rejects that term and says only around 10,000 people have been killed. |
