p arms against the government in 2003 to protest discrimination. In the last year it has expanded its operations into the neighboring province of Kordofan, even attacking oil installations. Saturday night’s assault, however, was the first time they had made it anywhere near the capital.
While the rebels declared the assault a success, the government was quick to describe it as a disaster for the rebels, displaying prisoners and captured vehicles on television.
“This attempt was a foolish act and those who carried it out did not take into account the negative consequences — the attempt was based on lies and disinformation,” said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Osman al-Agbash.
With just a few thousand members, JEM is outnumbered and far less equipped than Sudan’s military, which believed to be more than 100,000-strong. Yet the group presents the most prominent military challenge to the Sudanese government in Darfur.
The assault puts greater pressure on the Sudanese government to deal with the situation in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been chased from their homes since 2003. Sudan denies backing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads accused of the worst atrocities in the conflict.
Attempts to revive peace talks between Sudan and rebel groups have failed to stem the violence. Rebel groups accuse the Khartoum regime of stonewalling the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force that would try to establish security before peace talks.
The instability on Sudan’s western border has spilled over into neighboring Chad, with armed groups and refugees crossing the remote border on a regular basis and destabilizing both countries and straining relations.
“These forces are Chadian forces originally, they moved from there led by Khalil Ibrahim who is an agent of the Chadian regime. It is a Chadian attack,” al-Bashir said Sunday morning.
For its part, Chad has accused Sudanese authorities of arming rebels who launched a failed assault February on the Chadian capital, N’Djamena. The rebels reached the gate of the presidential palace, but fled toward Sudan after Chad’s army repelled them in fighting that left hundreds dead.
Though the two countries signed a peace agreement in March promising to prevent armed groups from operating along each other’s shared borders, the accusations have continued unabated.
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