HORN OF AFRICA, IRIN Update
SUDAN: Army claims control of Kassala
Government forces on Thursday claimed to be in control of the city of
Kassala, 400 km east of the capital Khartoum, after driving out rebels who
had claimed its capture on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported. "The
government and army are in control," it quoted a city resident as saying.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was in place, in addition to a state of emergency,
but residents were on Thursday preparing to go to work again, the report
said. The rebel National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - a political and
military grouping of Muslim opposition groups from the north and the Sudan
People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) in the south - had said its
forces captured Kassala before dawn on Wednesday morning after a day and
night of heavy fighting. Sudanese Minister for Information and Culture
Ghazi Salah al-Din also said on Wednesday that "the entire forces" of the
insurgents belonged to the SPLA, and not the NDA.
Rebels have never before controlled Kassala, which lies on the main road
between Khartoum and Port Sudan, along which all Sudan's imports and
exports pass, the BBC reported. Eritrea has been trying to broker a peace
agreement between the NDA (based in Eritrea) and the Sudanese government,
with which it resumed ties earlier this year after a break of six years
amid accusations that each supported the other's rebel movements. Sudan
had agreed in principle to certain Eritrean proposals, but the NDA has
reportedly insisted of Eritrea that it secures "something in writing" from
the Khartoum government on a new constitution, democracy, human rights and
a transition government before it will engage in talks.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
