Sudanese Darfur Rebel Group Joins Anti-Government Alliance
November 14, 2011, 12:24 AM ESTBy Jared Ferrie
(Updates with military base attack in final paragraph.)
Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A Sudanese rebel group from Darfur has joined an alliance aimed at toppling Sudan’s government.
The Justice and Equality Movement signed a cooperation agreement after meeting three other groups Nov. 11 in Kadua, a town in South Kordofan state where the government is battling the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North.
The groups vowed to overthrow the ruling National Congress Party “using all available means, above all, the convergence of civil political action and armed struggle,” according to a statement by the newly named Sudanese Revolutionary Front. Fighting has continued in parts of the country since South Sudan gained independence from the north on July 9.
JEM, an Islamic group, had previously stayed out of the rebel alliance due to differing views on the role religion would play in a future government. “That issue has been resolved. We agreed on the separation of religion and politics,” Yasir Arman, a member of the SRF’s high political committee, said in a phone interview today.
Members of the front will launch coordinated military attacks across the country, Arman said. “All Sudan is a theater for operations, including Khartoum,” he said.
Sudan’s army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled and foreign affairs ministry spokesman al-Obaid Murawih didn’t answer calls seeking comment.
South Sudan’s army said 18 people died when a Sudan-backed militia attacked one of its military bases in Upper Nile state, and warned that the insurgents are planning assaults on oil- producing areas. South Sudan assumed control in July of almost 75 percent of Sudan’s daily production of 490,000 barrels of oil.
--With assistance from Salma El Wardany in Khartoum. Editors: Digby Lidstone, John Buckley.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
