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Six dead as Sudan army, insurgents clash in province
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] New fighting has broken out between Sudanese troops and rebels in the state of South Kordofan, leaving six President Omar al-Bashir  Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. ’s forces have been battling the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, but in recent months the two southern states have seen long periods of calm compared with previous years. The SPLM-N said festivities began on Wednesday and continued until late Friday, with fighting initially erupting west of the town of Um Serdiba. "On our side we lost six comrades and 18 others were maimed," rebel front man Arnu Lodi said in a statement late on Friday. He said the rebels had inflicted "heavy casualties" on the Sudanese troops. The military front man was unreachable for comment. Khartoum limits press access to the war-hit border regions, making it nearly impossible to verify the often-contradictory reports from the army and the SPLM-N about fighting there. Posted by: Fred 2016-05-01 |
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