Rebels dismiss Sudan army’s victory claims in North Darfur

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) announced on Monday that it defeated rebel combatants of the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), in Um Baru and Karnoi localities, North Darfur. The SLM-MM strongly denied his report. People living in the areas of Abu Liha, Orschi, and Abu Gamra reported widespread pillaging by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The militiamen are also blocking all the roads leading to Um Baru, Karnoi, and El Tina localities.

SAF spokesman Col. El Sawarmi Khalid Saad announced on Monday evening that the government forces, after eliminating the rebels from the area of Fanga in East Jebel Marra, managed to expel “the remnants of the so-called SLM rebel faction of Minawi from the area of Abu Liha, east of Kutum, in North Darfur state”.

Col. Saad said that the rebels used Abu Liha as a base for the “sabotage operations” of the northern command centre of the SLM-MM, noting that Abu Liha, though lacking many basic services, is a populated area.

According to the army spokesman, the government forces continued their advance towards Abu Gamra, which, he explained, is a transit area for commercial vehicles heading west, and a gathering point for various rebel groups.

“The armed forces are in full control over these crucial areas. They are currently persecuting the last groups of insurgents, to secure the area,” he said.

Morale

The rebel movement, however, denied any presence of its troops in Abu Liha and Abu Gamra. Abdallah Mursal, the spokesman for the SLM-MM, told Dabanga that apart from some small police posts in both relatively sparcely populated areas, there is no military presence in these areas, “let alone rebel forces”.

“The reason for this military show-off is to raise the morale of the government troops after they suffered considerable losses in East Jebel Marra,” he said.

Mursal stressed that the SLM-MM is “still present, with strong forces, in the operations area. They will teach the enemy some good lessons in the coming period”.

Rapid Support Forces

According to the people living in and around Abu Gamra, on the border of Karnoi and El Sareif Beni Hussein localities, and Abu Liha and Orschi in Um Baru locality, large groups of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are pillaging the areas.

“These Rapid Support gunmen are plundering our villages, taking anything they find with them. They stole at least 1,000 head of camels, cows, and sheep,” a villager from Orschi told Dabanga.

Multiple sources told Dabanga that the RSF troops have blocked the roads leading to Um Baru, Karnoi, and El Tina locality, near the Chadian border, since Monday. “On Tuesday, commercial vehicles en route from Kabkabiya, Saraf Umra, and El Sareif Beni Hussein to Um Baru, El Tina, and Karnoi, were sent back by the militiamen,” they said.

They also reported that during the past two days, they saw hundreds of military vehicles, “heavily loaded with various weapons”, moving from Kutum, El Guba, and Kabkabiya towards the north.

Dar Zaghawa

Mohamed Ahmed Minawi, independent MP for Karnoi and Um Baru localities, told Dabanga that he called on the North Darfur state authorities to “intervene, and return the stolen money, goods, and livestock to their owners in the Dar Zaghawa” (the homeland of the Zaghawa tribe).