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Sudan to close Libyan border over rebel threat
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan said on Monday it was closing borders with Libya to protect travelers and traders from attacks by rebels, a likely reference to Darfur insurgents who have taken refuge in Tripoli.Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid issued the order with the "aim of reorganizing" police along the border, according to a statement on the ministry's website. Passage on a highway to the boundary "has become subjected to threats and attacks from rebels and outlaws who commit robberies and extortion," the statement said. "The decision will be enforced starting on the first of July 2010 and until other directives are issued," it said. Libya's border with Sudan passes through the troubled Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in a war that started in 2003 when ethnic rebels revolted against the Arab-dominated government. The announcement comes a day after Sudan said it had called on Libya to expel the leader of Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim, accusing him of making statements undermining peace efforts in Darfur and threatening attacks on Khartoum. If Libya agrees to Sudan's request, one possible exit route for Ibrahim and his followers would be an overland trek across Libya's border, straight into the northwestern tip of Sudan's Darfur region. Chad, on Libya's southern border, has already refused to take the JEM leader and any offer of a new home in Egypt could spark a diplomatic rift between Khartoum and Cairo. JEM forces have been involved in clashes with Sudan's army inside Darfur since the rebel group suspended its participation in peace talks in early May. In May 2008, JEM forces travelled hundreds of miles from north Darfur to launch an unprecedented attack on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had a telephone conversation last Thursday in which the question of Ibrahim's presence in Tripoli was raised, Sudanese media reported. The head of Sudanese intelligence, Mohammed al-Atta, was reported to have said at the weekend that Ibrahim's extradition was "imminent," on a website close to the secret services. But this was denied by the rebel group. "Ibrahim is in Libya and will remain there until he completes talks over the future of Darfur and Sudan" with Gaddafi, JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam told AFP. "And even if Sudan said it would close its border with Libya, it doesn't have enough soldiers to do so," he said. Posted by: Fred 2010-07-01 |
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