November 11, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is readying to launch a massive military campaign in the coming days against rebel positions, a senior official said on Monday.
FILE – Soldiers from Sudan’s army celebrate after gaining control of the area, at the Blue Nile state capital al-Damazin, September 5, 2011 (Reuters)
Nafie Ali Nafie, Sudanese presidential assistant, who was attending the inauguration ceremony of an economic housing project in Nahr al-Neel state Monday, renewed the government’s call for rebels to sit down at the negotiating table and “repent” once and for all.
On Friday evening, dozens of military trucks and tanks loaded with soldiers were seen in Khartoum on their way to conflict zones which disrupted traffic for hours on one road south of the capital.
Last month, the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), released imagery showing SAF beefing up its military presence in bases in north and south Kordofan states.
“Satellite images reviewed by DigitalGlobe Analytics show unusually high levels of activity at several Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, military installations in Sudan’s North and South Kordofan states, which could signal planned deployments toward several locations, including the highly contested Abyei area,” said SSP, which Hollywood actor George Clooney founded in 2010 along with Enough project co-founder John Prendergast.
“This buildup directly threatens vulnerable Sudanese civilians in South Kordofan. The re-positioned aerial assets at El Obeid and Kadugli potentially also signal a threat to Abyei, where tensions are running high ahead of a planned Ngok Dinka unilateral referendum” SSP Said.
Since 2011, the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile have been witnessing armed conflict between the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) and SAF.
SPLM-N is also a member of coalition known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which also includes rebel groups from Darfur.
‘NOT REFORMISTS’
The Sudanese presidential assistant blasted a batch of self-described reformists within the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) saying their goal is to dissolve the regime.
Nafie named Islamist figures and university professors al-Tayeb Zain al-Abdeen and Abdel-Wahab al-Affendi along with al-Mahboub Abdel-Salam from the Popular Congress Party (PCP) as leading these efforts.
He stressed that these figures have nothing to do with the NCP or even the Islamic Movement (IM) but sought to execute their agendas after proliferating it abroad first.
The NCP deputy chairman dismissed these attempts and its impact on the party.
Last month, the former presidential adviser and ex-head of the parliamentary caucus for the NCP Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani along with two others received recommended dismissal over a highly publicized memo they sent to president Omer Hassan al-Bashir last September following protests that broke out in the wake of the government’s decision to cut fuel subsidies which nearly doubled prices of gasoline and diesel.
The signatories including lawmakers and retired army officers, called for reinstating the subsidies due to its “harsh” impact on ordinary Sudanese and demanded that the government prosecute those behind the use excessive violence against protestors.
They also urged Bashir to form a mechanism for national reconciliation comprised of various political forces and assign the economic dossier to a professional national economic team.
Al-Attabani and other dismissed members announced their intention to form a new party which was downplayed by the NCP as having little significance.
(ST)