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khaleej times Wednesday,May20, 2009

Merchant Who Went to Battlecairo — The rst Darfur suspect toappear before an international court was once a prominent leader in the war-torn region’s most powerfulrebel group who broke away to formhisownfaction.

Bahr Idriss Abu Garda voluntarily handed himself over to The Hague- based International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of murder andpillagingin a2007 attackagainstpeace-keepersin Darfur.

The court has indicted two otherrebelgures.It hasalsoissuedan orderfor the arrest of the rebels’ opponent,Sudanese President OmarAl Bashir, oncharges of genocide and war crimes intheDarfur war, inwhich upto 300,000people have been killed since 2003. Al Bashir has refused to cooperate withthe court.

 Abu Garda, a native of Darfur fromtheprominentZaghawatribe,was oncea merchant who headed the Chad of-ces of the government-run SudaneseGum Arabic company. He was among many young black Darfuris who once backed the Islamic fundamentalist re-

gime in Khartoum but soon becamedisillusioned with it, accusing it of dis-criminationagainst Darfur’sethnic Af-ricanpopulation.

He became an early member of theIslamist-leaning Justice and Equality Movement, whose leader, Khalil Ibra-him, was once a government ocial inthenorthern-ledregime.

 Abu Garda rose in the ranks of JEMto become its secretary general. But in2007, he fell out with the group. Sulei-man Jamous, a JEM member, said AbuGarda didn’t take criticism well fromthegroup’sleaders.

 Abu Garda formed his own break-away JEM faction, called the collectiveleadership.Butthe fallfromgrace withJEM has cost Abu Garda prestige andfootsoldiers,since mostghterschoseto stay with JEM, the region’s mostpowerfulrebelforce.

 According to Jamous, the split tookplace shortly before the attack againsta peacekeepers base in the northernDarfurtownof Haskanita,in whichAbuGardais accused.

Thatwasoneof thedeadliestattacksever against peacekeepers in Darfur:12 peacekeepers were killed, eight were severely wounded and the rebelslootedweapons, equipmentand money fromthe base.

Lastyear,Abu Gardaformedanotherrebel group, known as the United Re-sistance Front, which includes Darfur Arabsopposedto Khartoum.

Jamous and JEM eld commanderSuleimanSandalsay AbuGarda’sgrouphas no presence on the ground in Dar-furandhaslittleswayon theconict.

“He has no other option” but to sur-render, Sandalsaidfrom Darfur. — AP

BahrIdrissAbuGarda.— AP

21region“We are assured the government of Sudan is trying  hard t o men d fen ces w ith th e gove rnm ent of Chad. ” —arableague secretary-generalamr moussa

SudanAccusesChadofAidingRebels

e l f ashe r (suda n ) — Sudan’stop ocial in North Darfur accusedChad on Monday of sending troopsinto his territory to ght alongsideDarfur rebels, raising the stakes in thesimmering tension between the two Africancountries.

North Darfur governor Osman Ke- bir said Chadian forces had reinforcedghters from Darfur’s rebel Justiceand Equality Movement (JEM) in anattack on the strategic town of KornoionSaturday.

Sudan accused Chad of carrying outthree air strikes on its territory last

 week, calling the raids an “act of war”against thestate ofSudan.

However, this was the rst occasioninrecenttimesthatit hadsaidChadiangroundtroopshad breacheditsborder.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonrepeated hiscall forall partiesto cease

ghting, according toa statementfromUNspokeswomanMarieOkabe.

“(Ban) underscores that there is nomilitary solution tothe situationin thesub-region and urgesthe governmentsof Chad and Sudan to refrain from any actthatmayleadtoa furtherescalationoftensions,”Okabesaid.

Chad said on Sunday it had carriedout the air raids, and fought near Su-dan’s border, to destroy anti-Chadianinsurgentsit saidwere takingrefugein-sideSudan.IthassofarnotcommentedonSaturday’sgroundattackon Kornoi.

“Chadian aggression has reachedthe locality of Kornoi, a town near theChadian border,” said Kebir, speaking through a translator as he addresseda delegation of the leaders of the ArabLeague, the African Union Commis-sionand theOrganisation ofthe Islam-icConference.

“Kornoi has been attacked by Chad

forces with JEM. Our armed forceshavestoppedthe aggression.”

Chadian President Idriss Deby has ethnic links with JEM’s leaderKhalil Ibrahim and many of his topcommanders and Khartoum regularly accusesitsneighbourof supportingthe

rebelforce. AmrMoussa,secretary-generalof the

 ArabLeague, said he remained hopefulabouttheprospectsforpeaceinDarfur,despite an increase in violence along theChadianborder.

“We are assured the government of Sudan is trying hard to mend fences with the government of Chad to movetoward a low intensity situation,” hetold reporters at the end of his delega-tion’sone-dayvisitto ElFasher.

Jean Ping, chair of the AfricanUnion Commission, declined to com-ment on the reports of Chadian in- volvement inSudan.

 About 4.7 million people rely onhumanitarian aid in Darfur, a conictin which UN ocials say as many as300,000peoplehavedied inalmostsix yearsof ethnicand political violence.

Khartoum says 10,000 peoplehavedied.—Reuters

North DarfurgovernorOsmanKebir saidChadian forces hadreinforcedghters fromDarfur’s rebelJusticeand Equality Movement