By infiltrating into the Sudanese capital Khartoum and launching attacks, a major rebel movement in the western Sudanese region of Darfur could get nothing but grievous losses and unanimous condemnation by the international society, local analysts affirmed on Sunday.
They described the assault carried out by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) at Omdurman in northwestern Khartoum as "apolitically suicide attack" and "a military unvalued adventure."
The Sudanese government termed on Sunday night the Saturday's attack by the JEM rebels as a "terrorist operation for sabotage," announcing that this operation had "finished."
Residents survey burnt out cars on the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum May 11, 2008. "This terrorist operation for sabotage was plotted by Chad and carried out by JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim," Kamal Obeid, the minister of state in the Sudanese Ministry of Information and Communications, told reporters.
The JEM is believed to have the most powerful forces among rebel groups in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which amount to over two dozens.
The Sudanese government announced on Saturday evening that the army and the police had crushed the attempt of the JEM rebels to infiltrate into the capital and carry out sabotage activities there, killing and capturing a number of the infiltrators.
It was the first time for rebels in Darfur to enter Khartoum and launch attacks there since bloody conflicts erupted in the western Sudanese region neighboring Chad in February, 2003.
Sadig al-Madi al-Mahdi, a presidential adviser and the chairman of the Umma Party-Collective leadership, told Xinhua that this attack was "a desperate attempt aimed at snapping the public opinion."
"But this was a politically suicide attack by the JEM which will lose the support of the Darfur people," the Sudanese well-known political analyst said.
Al-Fatih Az-ddin, the mayor of Omdurman, said that what had been done by the JEM was "a military adventure which could not succeed," adding that the rebel forces infiltrating into Omdurman had been totally defeated.
Kamal Obeid admitted the existence of the "fifth fleet" of the rebels in Khartoum without giving the details.
Most analysts agreed that the JEM would not have been so audacious and reckless without assistance of collaborators inside the Khartoum regime.
On Saturday evening, as the rebel forces were being repulsed by the army troops and police, the JEM claimed that they would continue the fighting until President al-Bashir was ousted.
"We are in Omdurman, we are in Khartoum north. This is not something that is going to be finished in a few hours," JEM official al-Tahir al-Faki told a Western news agency, adding "there is an imbalance of power and wealth, we have to sort this out."
During its emergency meeting on Sunday evening, the Sudanese cabinet listened to the reports made by the ministers of defense and interior on the rebel attack.
"The Council of Ministers praised the big professional work performed by the armed and security forces as well as the police, which led to the defeat of the rebelling forces," Kamal Obeid noted.
He said that the cabinet instructed the authorities concerned to collect the vehicles and weapons used by the rebels in the attack in order to show them to the public on the scale of the rebel operation.
"The casualties and material losses are still being counted, and the statistics will be announced as soon as being completed," the Sudanese official said.
An anonymous source in the Sudanese Armed Forces told Xinhua that over 60 rebel militants were killed and some 120 others captured during the Saturday fighting at Omdurman, which is the northern gate of the Sudanese capital.
The official SUNA news agency reported that more than 300rebels had been arrested, and 60 vehicles seized or destructed by Sunday noon, noting that the military commander of the JEM, Jamal Hassan Jala-Eddin was killed by the troops on the outskirts of Khartoum on Sunday.
The Sudanese army said that the operation for searching the remnant rebels who could being hiding at any place, asking local residents to inform if finding any suspected persons.
Possible helps from Chad was another reason behind the adventure in Khartoum of the JEM, which used to limit its military activities inside Darfur, which amounts to one fifth of Sudan's size.
Early on Sunday, Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir announced a decision to sever diplomatic ties with Chad, holding Chad responsible for the rebel attack on the Sudanese capital.
But the Chadian government denied the accusation that N'Djamena was involved in the JEM's attack in Khartoum.
"Chad has nothing to do with this adventure," Chadian Information Minister Muhammad Hissein told Qatar-based Pan-Arab al-Jazeera television monitored in Khartoum.
However, by the Saturday action, the JEM has minimized the possibility of forcing the government back to negotiation table on the conditions aroused by the rebel group, even if this was one of the main aims it was seeking in the attack.
Presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail ruled out any chance of holding talks with the JEM after the attack.
"From this day we will never deal with this movement again other than in the way they have just dealt with us," he said on al-Jazeera TV channel.
The international society, notably including the U.S., France, Britain, which used to be vehemently criticizing the Sudanese government over the Darfur issue, has denounced the Saturday's attack by the JEM rebels on Khartoum.
Source:Xinhua
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