السفارة الأمريكية بالخرطوم تحذر رعاياها....قوات من الحدود التشادية-السودانية تتوجه نحو الخرطوم

Warden Message

U.S. Embassy Khartoum

May 9, 2008


This Warden Message alerts U.S. citizens to a statement issued by the Government of Sudan which notes that armed rebels are moving from the Sudan-Chad border region towards the capital of Khartoum. The Department of State continues to warn against all travel to Sudan.

On Thursday, May 8, the Government of Sudan issued a statement noting that armed rebels were moving from the Sudan-Chad border region towards the capital of Khartoum. The Sudanese government also announced the deployment of additional security forces throughout the capital and the surrounding region in response to those activities. American citizens who choose to travel to Sudan despite the existing Travel Warning, and those currently in Sudan, should review their security posture and take appropriate precautions. Additionally, American citizens already in Sudan should monitor news reports and keep sufficient provisions on hand to sustain themselves for several days should the need arise.

U.S. citizens are reminded that the Department of State continues to warn against all travel to Sudan, particularly in the Darfur area, where violence between government forces and various armed militias continues. Americans and other westerners have been victims of carjacking and armed robbery while traveling in Sudan. Land travel at night should be avoided.

U.S. citizens living or traveling in Sudan despite the existing Travel Warning should register their presence in Sudan with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the Department of State's website, http://travel.state.gov, to obtain updated information travel and security within Sudan. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.

The U.S. Embassy is located at Sharia Ali Abdul Latif, Khartoum; tel. (249-183) 774-700/1/2/3 (outside Sudan); tel (0183) 774-700/1/2/3 (inside Sudan). Americans may call between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday or email: [email protected].

For after-hours emergencies, please call 0-183-774-700 and ask to be connected to the duty officer.

كستاوي صح النوم لابورد مولع لها ساعات وتلفزيون السودان ينبح:
(يا محمد حامد جمعه) قوات (خليل ابراهيم) اجتاحوا العاصمة ولا لسه؟؟!!

الحكومة تحرك الجنجويد (لانجمينا )مرة آخرى في خطوة لصرف ...براهيم من( الخرطوم)!

....

Sudan extends Khartoum curfew indefinitely

11 May 2008 06:58:57 GMT

Source: Reuters

KHARTOUM, May 11 (Reuters) - Sudan has extended a curfew in Khartoum indefinitely on Sunday saying some Darfur rebels were still on the loose after attacking a western suburb of the capital, the governor of Khartoum said.

"We have lots of wandering defeated fighters ... and we are chasing them and we don't want civilians to get caught in the cross fire," Khartoum state governor Abdel Haleem al-Mutafi told Reuters.

Some fighting could still be heard in the far west of Omdurman in Khartoum state on Sunday morning, witnesses said. (Reporting by Opheera McDoom; editing by Sami Aboudi)

الحكومة كانت تعلم بالحركة من بدايتها وأصدرت بيان الجيش في يوم 8 مايو.. فأين هذا الجيش؟؟



أم أنه فقط لقصف القرى الآمنة؟؟ لقد عرفت حركة العدل والمساواة ذلك فقامت بتحريك سياراتها بسرعة ووصلت في أقل من يومين إلى امدرمان..

.. والطائرات المقاتلة؟؟؟!!!

Fri 9th May

"Large number of rebels are reportedly advancing to Khartoum. GoS deployed troops and air support to stop them. UN Security Management Meeting to take place shortly after which staff will be informed

By Rob Crilly | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

NAIROBI, KENYA - Sudan on Sunday cut diplomatic ties with its neighbor Chad, which it accuses of backing a Darfur rebel assault on Sudan's capital, Khartoum, over the weekend.

Although the Darfur rebels have little chance of toppling Sudan's regime, the advance is "the first time anyone has managed to take civil war to the doorstep of the [Sudanese] government, so it's a propaganda victory of sorts," says Richard Cornwell of the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.

The move by the Justice and Equality (JEM) rebel group may expose the fragility of the Sudanese government by putting pressure on existing divisions, say analysts. But it also gives Khartoum a reason to ramp up its latest offensives in Darfur and raises the prospect of a border war between Chad and Sudan; both believe the other is using rebels as proxy fighters.

"The government has already begun to manipulate this," says Salih Mahmoud Osman, a Darfuri member of parliament, explaining that Khartoum now has the political cover it needs to step up its offensives in Darfur and to stall elections. "They are already blaming Chad, a number of people have been arrested, and they can say the country is under external threat."

A SURPRISE ASSAULT ON KHARTOUM

This weekend's rebel assault came out of the blue.

Several hundred JEM rebels launched their attack on Saturday morning having traveled more than 600 miles from their Darfur strongholds.

Sudanese armed forces responded with artillery and helicopter gunships as fighting raged through the day.

Sunday morning, President Omar al-Bashir appeared on state television, dressed in military uniform, to say the attack had been repelled and that he would sever ties with Chad.

"These forces are all basically Chadian forces supported and prepared by Chad and they moved from Chad under the leadership of Khalil Ibrahim," he said in a televised address, adding that he reserved the right to retaliate against the "outlaw regime."

Mr. Ibrahim, who leads JEM, is from the same Zaghawa tribe as Idriss Deby, president of Chad.

Although he denies being backed by Chad, the ties are an open secret.

In February, JEM fighters traveled from Darfur to Chad to protect Mr. Deby from rebels pouring into his capital, N'Djamena.

At the same time, links between Khartoum and Chadian rebels are barely disguised.

Visitors to the West Darfur capital of El Geneina routinely see Chadian rebels picking up supplies in the town's market alongside the Arab janjaweed militia and their allied Sudanese troops.

Their use of the French language and distinctive, open-topped pickups make them easy to spot.

PROXY WAR PAYBACK

The attack on Omdurman, a twin city to Khartoum, was the latest salvo in this proxy war, according to Amjad Atallah, of the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of humanitarian groups.

"It seems that, at least in part, this is payback for [Sudan's ruling National Congress Party's] support for rebels in Chad who almost toppled the government there in February," he said.

With the rainy season just beginning in Darfur, it was also one of the last chances for JEM to strengthen its hand before hunkering down for the next few months.

Security sources in Khartoum, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated that about 200 rebel technicals – pickups mounted with heavy machine guns – made the three-day journey from their strongholds in the Jebel Moon region of West Darfur.

They crossed into North Darfur and then Northern Kordofan using areas controlled by sympathetic tribes.

They picked up reinforcements along the way, before approaching Khartoum from the west via its historic neighbor Omdurman.

The city is well-defended with machine gun emplacements along all major arteries and around strategic position such as airports and government buildings.

Bridges across the Nile were closed as fighting began.

Suleiman Sandal, JEM's deputy chief of staff, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that his forces had struggled to adapt to urban warfare.

"Our troops came from Darfur," said Sandal, who claimed he was still in Omdurman on Sunday. "This is the first time for them to fight in towns and now we are gathering our troops and thinking about what we're doing."

Latest United Nations estimates put the death toll in Darfur at 300,000 since rebels took up arms against what they see as an Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

Yet after five years the fighting has had little impact on the capital, where an oil-fueled building boom has seen new hotels and office blocks springing up beside the Nile.

A foreign aid worker, who is not authorized to speak to the media, says the latest attack had changed all that.

"People here are very frightened. It always seemed as if the war was hundreds of miles away – which it was," he says.

By creating fear in the capital, the rebels might also hope to point up the fact that the government is divided and that the city contains opposition elements made up of southerners and Darfuris, says Mr. Cornwell. But the result is likely to be "a crackdown by the authorities" on the opposition.

The Hour of the Hardliners

Alex de Waal

Saturday’s battle in the streets of Omdurman was a defeat for the prospects of peace, democracy and human rights. The calculations of the leadership of the Justice and Equality Movement are puzzling–the attack looks much like an act of reckless military escalation, bold and daring no doubt, but possibly suicidal. But it would be surprising if JEM did not have other cards to play—possibly short-order attacks on al Obeid, the Meroe Dam or al Fashir.

The attack was a humiliation, for Sudan’s security and military chiefs. That is reason for worry. The raison d’etre of this government is security, and its failure to protect the capital has rocked its credibility. The government will not feel comfortable until it has evened the score. Despite their failure to stop the attack, the security and military leaders will now make the running. Also the fact that the JEM attack was repulsed by the forces of the regime’s core security institutions—National Intelligence and the Central Reserve Police—gives the hardliners the upper hand in what happens next. There will certainly be an internal reckoning within the upper echelons of the National Congress Party and the security services. But first, the regime will pursue the military option without compromise.

Khalil Ibrahim is a Darfurian but this war is not about Darfur. JEM is fighting for N’djamena and Khartoum. In part, the offensive is Chadian President Idriss Deby’s reply to the Chadian rebel attack on N’djamena in February, backed by Sudan. Khalil has dismissed the various efforts at a revived Darfur peace process over the last year, and has recently argued that JEM is the only force that is fighting the government and therefore the only one that should be represented in any talks. On Saturday, Khartoumdismissed any prospects of peace talks: there is fighting to be done first. A real peace deal between Sudanand Chadmight have prevented this weekend’s debacle—now it is too late.

Spokesmen for JEM have said that they are fighting for the CPA and its fair implementation, but most people who have followed JEM’s politics consider this no more than a tactic to win the support of Southerners who would otherwise distrust JEM’s Islamist origins, its fierce opposition to Southern separatism and the Chadian fingerprints on its operation. JEM’s manifesto speaks of democracy and human rights—justice and equality no less—but its putchist strategy is the antithesis of compromise, democratic politics and civil liberties. Both the Omdurman attack and the inevitable government response imperil Sudan’s shaky path to democratization and the South’s aim of exercising the right of self-determination. First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit saw these dangers when he spoke out against the attack.

The three towns of Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North have enjoyed a remarkable social peace during the last quarter century of war. There has been everyday racism and discrimination but astonishingly little violence. That coexistence may now be in jeopardy. For many Khartoum natives and people of the riverain north—the awlad al balad—JEM’s attack was an assault on their hitherto peaceful and prosperous territory. It was a shock and a horror and many are rallying to the government. Opposition politicians from the north hope that their voices of moderation may help prevent pogroms against the Zaghawa and other suspected JEM supporters and keep alive the prospects of elections next year.

By contrast, for many Southerners, Darfurians and people from Sudan’s other peripheries, there was unconcealed glee at the evidence fear displayed by government’s leaders, and a wider feeling that at long last the nation’s elite was learning the reality of war—the chickens of regional inequity were finally coming home to roost.

Amid the near-certainty of a government crackdown on suspected JEM sympathizers, there is the worrying possibility of a polarization of Khartoum society and politics along regional-ethnic lines. Perhaps this is what Khalil Ibrahim, one of the authors of the Black Book, hoped for when he planned the assault—a blow at the national capital might so rock the foundations of the state that it would collapse. But if history is anything to go by, it is more likely to ignite destructive cycles of violence in the peripheries themselves. In this case, the bloodshed is most likely to begin in Kordofan and the cities of the centre and east where there are large numbers of Darfurian migrants. And we may see new attacks in north Darfuras well.

There were many reasons to be worried for Sudan last week. After the weekend’s battle of Omdurman, there are graver reasons still.