Sudan Army kills Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
8 min readBy Abdelmoneim Abu Edris Ali (AFP) –
KHARTOUM — Sudan’s army killed a key rebel leader from the Darfur region on Sunday, state media reported, three days after anti-government forces said they had begun advancing on the capital.
“The Sudanese army announce that they killed Khalil Ibrahim in fighting today in west Wadbanda, North Kordofan,” said the official SUNA news agency.
Ibrahim headed the Justice and Equality Movement, the most heavily armed group in the Darfur region.
The report of his death could not be independently confirmed. Calls by AFP to spokesmen for both the army and JEM went unanswered.
But a source close to JEM said: “I’m pretty sure it’s true.”
The governor of North Kordofan, on government-run Sudan TV, said rebel vehicles were seen burning after the clash in west Wadbanda, in the border region between his state and South Darfur.
On Saturday SUNA, quoting army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said the military was combing the North Kordofan-North Darfur border area after JEM “attacked civilians” and targeted local leaders while looting their property in the Umm-Gozain, Goz Abyadh and Aramal areas.
Saad gave no casualty figures.
The JEM announced on Thursday through its London-based spokesman that its forces were advancing from Darfur eastward towards Khartoum.
JEM spokesman Gibril Adam Bilal said then that the group had reached En Nahud, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Darfur in North Kordofan, on a mission to topple the regime led by President Omar al-Bashir.
On Sudan TV, Saad said Sunday that government forces “clashed directly” with Ibrahim’s troops, killing him and “a group of his leaders” as Ibrahim was on his way to South Sudan.
The South became independent in July following an overwhelming vote to separate after a two-decade civil war.
Sudanese troops have been battling rebels on the poorly defined southern border, with each country accusing the other of supporting rebels within their territories.
In 2008, more than 200 people were killed when JEM guerrillas drove about 1,000 kilometres across the desert to Omdurman, just across the River Nile from the presidential palace on the Khartoum side.
Government troops repulsed them after heavy clashes and later sentenced dozens of rebels to death for their role in the assault.
In July, the government signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur with the Liberation and Justice Movement, an alliance of rebel splinter factions.
Darfur’s main armed groups — JEM and factions of the Sudan Liberation Army headed by Minni Minnawi and Abdelwahid Nur — did not sign the deal.
Instead, last month they, along with the SPLM-North rebel group, ratified documents forming the new Sudanese Revolutionary Front dedicated to “popular uprising and armed rebellion” against the National Congress Party regime in Khartoum.
Ibrahim was a key player in the early days of the conflict, which broke out in 2003 between non-Arab rebels and the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime.
But recently the group’s interests had turned away from Darfur.
The source close to JEM said the implications of his death remain unclear, “except to say it’s a very significant turn of events for the Darfur rebellion and will definitely lead to a re-ordering within that particular movement.”
According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since fighting broke out more than eight years ago.
The government puts the death toll at 10,000.
UN officials say 1.9 million people are internally displaced and still living in camps in Darfur, with about 80,000 newly displaced by fighting this year.
Six people including President Bashir are being sought or are before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes in Darfur.
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Khalil Ibrahim’s troops reportedly lost some of his men fighting for Col GaddafiThe Sudanese army has killed the leader of Darfur’s main rebel group, the military says.
It says Khalil Ibrahim was killed in fighting in the Wad Banda area in North Kordofan.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Khalil Ibrahim is known as the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement in conflict-torn Darfur. Earlier this year, he returned from exile in Libya after the fall of Col Gaddafi’s regime.
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Sad told the BBC Arabic Service that Mr Ibrahim was killed at dawn.
The spokesman also told Sudan’s state TV that Mr Khalil Ibrahim and other rebel leaders had been trying to enter South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July.
Khartoum had accused Jem of fighting for Col Gaddafi in his attempt to hold on to power.
Col Gaddafi’s fall in Tripoli was a blow to the rebels as he gave them sanctuary and financial and military aid, analysts say.
The rebels signed a ceasefire with the Sudanese government in February 2010 but abandoned peace talks soon after, accusing Khartoum’s forces of launching new raids in Darfur.
About 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur since it began in 2003, the United Nations says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16328441
By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The Sudanese army said it killed Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the main Darfur rebel group, during fighting early Sunday west of the capital Khartoum, touting the death as a key victory over the rebels who had rejected a peace deal with the government.
The army said Ibrahim and several of his associates died during a military offensive in the North Kordofan state that was in retaliation for a rebel attack there Saturday, which authorities said had killed an undisclosed number of civilians.
Ibrahim led the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, which proved to be the most organized and effective military power in the region torn by conflict since 2003. The group did not join last year’s peace deal signed with the Khartoum government.
If confirmed, Ibrahim’s death could be a serious blow to JEM, which has been increasingly threatening to bring down the regime in Khartoum by advancing toward the capital on several occasions.
An army statement, carried by the official SUNA news agency, said Ibrahim died in Wad Banda, an area in North Kordofan about 440 miles (700 kilometers) west of Khartoum. JEM, could not immediately be reached for comment or confirmation of the Sudanese army claim.
Fighting in the area had flared up in the past days. On Saturday, the Sudanese army said the rebels from Darfur attacked three locations in neighboring North Kordofan, killing an unspecified number of civilians in an area where government forces were not present.
JEM has not claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack but in a dramatic push in 2008, hundreds of JEM fighters drove through the remote western region to attack Khartoum’s outskirts. And most recently, the group also extended its presence from Darfur into North Kordofan.
The military said it responded Sunday to the rebel attacks in North Kordofan, killing Ibrahim with a group of associates as they where retreating, allegedly toward South Sudan.
South Sudan — which had fought a bitter war with Khartoum for at least two decades — declared independence from Khartoum in July, becoming the world’s youngest country.
Ibrahim was believed to have recently been living in exile in Libya, where he enjoyed the support of Moammar Gadhafi until the death of the Libyan dictator at the hands of the country’s revolutionaries in October. After that, he reportedly returned to Sudan.
“The army cut all paths for the group as it was retreating and trying to cross into South Sudan to reorganize it forces,” said Sudanese army spokesman Col. Sawarmy Khaled. “Our gallant armed forces were able to kill rebel Khalil Ibrahim along with some of his associates.”
“The armed forces laid a long chase and were able to impose an effective and complete siege against the remnants of Khalil Ibrahim’s forces,” added the spokesman, commending the residents of Wad Banda who “gave the ultimate example of patriotism” in the face of “bad treatment they received from the rebel forces. ”
If unclear what wider ramifications Ibrahim’s death would have in Darfur — Sudan’s vast, mostly desert western region — or on the array of other Darfur rebel groups.
Darfur has been in turmoil since 2003, when ethnic African rebels accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination took up arms against it. The Khartoum government is accused of retaliating by unleashing Arab militias on civilians — a charge the government denies. The U.N. estimates 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been displaced in the conflict.
Ibrahim was once a minister in Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s government before joining the rebellion in the early days. Another prominent Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, also was not part of last year’s peace deal with al-Bashir.
The agreement, signed in Qatar and backed by the African Union, meant to provide a basis for a cease-fire, power sharing, equal distribution of wealth and compensation for displaced people.
Ismail el-Haj Musa, Sudanese deputy speaker of the council of states, told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday that Ibrahim had returned to Sudan sometime after Gadhafi’s death and was en route south.
“He completely refused to come to the negotiating table, he never joined the peace talks,” Musa said. “He committed acts against the state.”
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sudanese Army Kills Leader Of Darfur Rebel Group
Salon
The military responded on Sunday, killing Ibrahim with a group of associates as the rebels where retreating toward South Sudan, which in July seceded from Sudan and became the world’s youngest country. Ibrahim was believed to have been until recently …
Sudan’s army kill Darfur rebel leader: state media
AFP
On the official Sudan TV channel, Saad said Sunday that government forces “clashed directly” with Ibrahim’s troops, killing him and “a group of his leaders” as Ibrahim was on his way to South Sudan. The South became independent in July following an …
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Voice of America – 1 hour ago - Sudan army blames Darfur rebel group for attack
Boston.com – 13 hours ago - Sudanese Army: Leader Of Darfur Rebel Group KilledSudanese army kills leader of Darfur rebel group
The Associated Press - The military said it responded Sunday to the rebel attacks in North Kordofan, killing Ibrahim with a group of associates as they where retreating, allegedly toward South Sudan. South Sudan — which had fought a bitter war with Khartoum for at least twoDarfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim killed “en route to South Sudan“
- Sudan Tribune
December 25, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The leader of the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim, has been killed as he was leading his forces on the way to the Republic of South Sudan, according to the Sudanese Armed Forces …
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