News Article by Al-Sahafah posted on March 06, 2003 at 12:36:15: EST (-5 GMT)
Security aide denies "direct link" between opposition, Darfur clashes
Al-Sahafah
March 6, 2003
"subheadings inserted editorially"
KHARTOUM -- The vice-head of national security, Maj-Gen Muhammad Atta, has denied any direct link between the Popular National Congress [PNC], the Communist Party, the Party for Justice and events currently taking place in Jabal Marrah [western Darfur, in western Sudan].
He said Abd al-Wahid Muhammad Ahmad Nur was a Communist Party member; he had joined the SPLM [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] and started working with Dr Sharif Hariz in the Party for Justice and Equality.
He further said that Dr Khalil Ibrahim had been amongst the Islamists in the PNC but he was now in the Party for Justice and Equality which he founded after leaving Sudan.
Rebel leader not "Sudanese"
Answering a question from Al-Sahafah [Khartoum based newspaper], Muhammad Atta said that retired Brig-Gen Abdallah Abkar [last element as received], who is said to be the leader of the rebel movement in Jabal Marrah, was neither Sudanese nor belonged to the armed forces. He explained that he had been accorded military status for participating in changing the regime of an African country.
However, he could not pursue [his above-mentioned military services] and returned to raids, cooperating with the Party for Justice and Equality and taking part in "raids" by different tribes.
He added that he [Abkar] had not engaged any direct foreign assistance in what was happening in Jabal Marrah.
Darfur troubles "not tribal clashes"
In a meeting with the press yesterday, Atta added that the events in Darfur were not tribal clashes but the results of ordinary problems between farmers and pastoralists, compounded by armed raids which have been going on [in Sudan] for decades.
He explained that they were also due to the repercussions of wars in Central Africa and Chad, as well as disputes in the bordering areas of northern and southern Sudan...