KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) – A curfew in the Sudanese capital has been lifted a day after Khartoum was assaulted by rebels.
That’s according to state-run radio in Sudan. It also reports that a curfew remains in effect in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, where rebels are said to be still on the loose. Extra checkpoints are still in place throughout Khartoum.
The surprise assault late Saturday is the closest Darfur rebels have ever come to Sudan’s seat of government, which is hundreds of miles from their bases in the far west of the country.
Sudan’s government has issued several statements claiming to have crushed the rebels.
Sudan has also severed relations with Chad, which it accuses of supporting the fighters.
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Last Darfur rebels leave capital, officials say
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The last of the Darfur rebel forces left Sudan’s capital on Sunday after unprecedented battles in the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, a government official and a security source said.
“All rebel forces have now left the capital,” Mutrif Siddig, the under-secretary at Sudan’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters.
A security source from Umm Bedda, the furthest outlying reach of west Omdurman, said rebels had retreated to some 70 km (45 miles) outside the city.
Searches continued inside Khartoum for individuals thought to be insiders due to meet the rebels who fought their way into Omdurman with about 70 vehicles on Saturday afternoon.
“And even those are being chased down by security forces,” Siddig added. Dozens of people were being arrested throughout the capital.
No one was available to comment from the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). On Sunday morning, a JEM commander told Reuters they were in more outlying areas of Omdurman. But no shooting has been heard there since late morning. (Reporting by Opheera McDoom)
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Sudan cuts Chad ties after Darfur rebel attack
KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudan on Sunday severed diplomatic ties with Chad, accusing Ndjamena of backing a first Darfur rebel assault on Khartoum, and slapped a multi-million dollar price on the head of the alleged mastermind.
The government said it had repulsed the assault by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), allegedly backed by Ndjamena, which saw the insurgents reach Khartoum’s outskirts with the declared intent of toppling the regime.
“We are forced to sever diplomatic relations with this regime” in Chad, President Omar al-Beshir said on state television following the attack on the capital’s twin city of Omdurman just across the river Nile.
“We place the entire responsibility for this attack on Chad,” he said, dressed in his field marshal’s fatigues.
Chad said it regretted Khartoum’s decision, denied any involvement in the attack and condemned a raid on the Chadian embassy. “Chad can only take note of this hasty decision with regret,” said the government in a statement.
Uniformed Sudanese men ransacked the Chadian mission in Khartoum, taking away documents and computer equipment, it added.
The Darfuri attack in broad daylight, one day after Khartoum warned that rebels were marching towards the capital, marks the first time regional rebels have ever brought decades of violence so close to the seat of Sudanese power.
A senior official in the military command told the state SUNA news agency that 250 million pounds (123 million dollars) would be paid to anyone who arrests JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim or provides information on his whereabouts.
Beshir convened an emergency session of the national security council, which included Salva Kiir, the leader of south Sudan that fought its own two-decade civil war until reaching a power-sharing agreement with Khartoum.
Government forces were on Sunday hunting down remnant rebel forces all over the capital and in neighbouring states, rounding up arms and explosives.
The official SUNA news agency said the Sudanese military had killed a leading JEM commander, had chased down, fought and wiped out a 45-man rebel force 50 kilometres (31 miles) from western Omdurman and arrested 300 rebels.
Omdurman remained under curfew but restrictions were lifted elsewhere. The Egyptian news agency MENA said Khartoum international airport was closed and commercial airlines told passengers that flights to Sudan were cancelled.
There were no clear indication from either side on casualty numbers.
JEM’s deputy chief of staff Suleiman Sandal said that his forces had taken Omdurman but were having trouble with the urban fighting environment having come from the desert of Darfur, and had suffered deaths and injuries.
“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,” he told AFP.
He said his forces had been prevented from crossing a key bridge into Khartoum overnight after taking three days to drive from Darfur in a convoy of 400 vehicles in order to depose the regime.
Sudan and Chad have long accused each other of backing rebels seeking to topple their respective regimes.
Foreign ministry official Ali Yousif said that Sudan had evidence of communication between the rebels, the Chad government and the Chadian embassy in Khartoum. He said five or six Chadian diplomats were expected to leave.
One Omdurman resident told AFP he could see smashed cars in the streets and plumes of smoke rising after a night of fighting.
“Up until six o’clock (0300 GMT) this morning there was very heavy bombardment. I can see smoke out of the window and smashed cars from the roof of the building,” said the father of one.
“We’re just being told to stay in and keep a low profile,” a US diplomat said, also asking not to be named.
In February, rebels allegedly backed by Khartoum advanced as far as the gates of the presidential palace in Ndjamena before being repulsed.
Sudanese television on Saturday showed images of what it said were captured rebels cowering in the back of an armoured personnel carrier, along with footage of captured rebel all-terrain vehicles, field artillery and shells.
The White House said it was “very concerned” about the violence and urged both the Darfur rebels and government forces to cease hostilities.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the “use of armed force and military means by JEM” and called for “an immediate cessation of fighting.”