Sudan says it has killed leader of Darfur's main rebel group

[High_Gravity]

Sudan says it has killed leader of Darfur's main rebel group

REPORTING FROM BEIRUT -- Sudan’s armed forces said Sunday that they had killed the leader of Darfur’s main rebel group, inflicting what could prove a severe blow to rebels who have waged a nearly decade-long war against the Arab-led government in Khartoum.

In a statement carried on the official Sudan News Agency, the army said Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, was killed in fighting in Wad Banda in the North Kordofan region, which borders Darfur. A spokesman for JEM confirmed the death to the French news agency Agence France-Presse, but said Ibrahim was killed in an air strike rather than during clashes.

Ibrahim, a charismatic leader from one of Darfur’s largest tribes, was considered one of the most powerful rebel commanders from the remote western region of Sudan, where the United Nations says as many as 300,000 people have died since fighting erupted in 2003.

He had been based in Libya in recent years, but returned to Sudan when Moammar Kadafi was overthrown. JEM was once Darfur’s best-armed and most effective rebel groups, although it is reported to have suffered losses in the fighting in Libya this year.

In 2008, JEM staged a bold attack on the capital in which more than 200 people were killed. Its fighters were only a few miles from the presidential palace when government troops halted them.

The group signed a truce with Khartoum last year, but soon abandoned it, accusing the government of launching fresh attacks in Darfur.

JEM and other key factions refused to join an African Union-backed peace pact, which was signed in July by the government and the Liberation and Justice Movement, an umbrella group of smaller rebel factions.

This week, JEM said its forces had advanced into North Kordofan and were headed toward the capital to overthrow President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir’s government. On Saturday, the army said JEM attacked three areas in North Kordofan, killing and displacing an unspecified number of civilians.

Sudanese armed forces surrounded Ibrahim and his fighters on the border between North Darfur and North Kordofan and prevented them from crossing into the newly independent state of South Sudan to reorganize, the army said. South Sudan seceded from the north in July after waging a two-decade civil war that ended in 2005.

Sudan says it has killed leader of Darfur's main rebel group - latimes.com

 

[waltky]

Even the Peacekeepers not safe in Sudan...

Darfur Rebels Kidnap 50 UN Peacekeepers
February 20, 2012 - A rebel group in Sudan's Darfur region says it has abducted about 50 international peacekeepers, mostly from Senegal.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) says it detained the soldiers on Sunday, after they allegedly entered a rebel-held area without permission. A group spokesman, Gibreel Adam Bilal, says the soldiers were accompanied by three suspected Sudanese intelligence agents. There was no immediate confirmation of the abduction by the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID.

The JEM is the strongest of the rebel groups that have been fighting Sudan's government since the Darfur conflict began in 2003. The mainly non-Arab groups accuse the central government, dominated by Arabs, of neglecting their region. UNAMID was deployed in 2007, after rights groups said government forces were raping and murdering civilians and burning down their villages.

The force consists of more than 17,000 troops and more than 5,000 police stationed in Darfur to maintain security and order. Peacekeepers have frequently been caught up in the region's tension and violence. UNAMID says 110 of its personnel have been killed during the course of the deployment.

Source

 

[High_Gravity]

How the fuck are these peacekeepers letting themselves get kidnapped? and 50 of them? thats more than enough to resist being taken, what a bunch of pussies.

 

[Ropey]

There's NO peace there. Sooner or later this will need to be addressed before sending peace keepers there.

1. First make the peace
2. Then keep the peace

 

[High_Gravity]

There's NO peace there. Sooner or later this will need to be addressed before sending peace keepers there.

1. First make the peace
2. Then keep the peace

I have no faith in these blue helmet clowns Ropey, if they are getting man handled by rag tag rebel groups from Darfur they might as well just pack up and go home, the UN peacekeepers are not a capable fighting force.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

It will be interesting to see which of his lieutenants takes over, and how well he does.

 

[Ropey]

There's NO peace there. Sooner or later this will need to be addressed before sending peace keepers there.

1. First make the peace
2. Then keep the peace

I have no faith in these blue helmet clowns Ropey, if they are getting man handled by rag tag rebel groups from Darfur they might as well just pack up and go home, the UN peacekeepers are not a capable fighting force.

Many member countries of Nato decline to enter the arena. All should leave imo. There's no peace to keep and they can't make it.

Not there they can't.

 

[High_Gravity]

There's NO peace there. Sooner or later this will need to be addressed before sending peace keepers there.

1. First make the peace
2. Then keep the peace

I have no faith in these blue helmet clowns Ropey, if they are getting man handled by rag tag rebel groups from Darfur they might as well just pack up and go home, the UN peacekeepers are not a capable fighting force.

Many member countries of Nato decline to enter the arena. All should leave imo. There's no peace to keep and they can't make it.

Not there they can't.

There are really only a handful of NATO or UN countries with a capable fighting force, the rest are useless. Not any more dangerous than the girl scouts imo.