Sudan cuts ties with Chad after attack

EL FASHER, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudan sought support Monday from the U.N. Security Council in its escalating conflict with Chad, which shut down the border and shut off trade between the two countries earlier in the day.

Sudan cut diplomatic ties Sunday, accusing its western neighbor of helping train rebels who attacked a suburb of Khartoum, Sudan's capital, over the weekend.

Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that he expected the Security Council, and especially its permanent members, to "use their leverage on Chad."

"This is a moment of truth for the international community to draw its own conclusion from this incident," he said. "It can send a message to Chad to desist from acts of destabilization."

Mohamed likened Saturday's attack by hundreds of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels on the suburb of Omdurman to the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Watch a report on the fighting »

"We expect that the council's sentiment recognize what it means to us when our national capital is attacked," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement through his spokesman expressing "grave concern" over the attack and continued fighting.

"He strongly condemns the use of armed force and military means by JEM for the achievement of political ends, and calls for an immediate cessation of fighting and a renewed commitment to a peaceful resolution of outstanding issues," he said.

The Security Council is scheduled Tuesday to discuss Sudan's Darfur region, where at least 200,000 people have died and another 2.5 million have been displaced since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms against the Arab-dominated government five years ago, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination.

The government stands accused of responding by unleashing tribal militias known as Janjaweed, who have allegedly committed numerous atrocities against the western state's communities.

Mitrif Saddique, undersecretary of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said some of the rebels arrested Saturday confessed to having trained at camps in Chad.

CNN was not able immediately to reach officials in Chad, although they have denied previous accusations from Sudan that Chad supports JEM, a Darfur rebel group that aims to overthrow the government of Sudan.

Chad, in turn, has accused Sudan of backing rebels who crossed the border in February in a failed attempt to overthrow the regime of Chadian President Idriss Deby.

In March, Deby and Sudanese President Omar Hassan el-Bashir signed a nonaggression agreement intended to halt cross-border hostilities between the two African nations.

Meanwhile, members of the Sudan Liberation Army, another Darfur rebel group, said they lent their support to JEM forces in the attack on Omdurman, according to local sources. If true, it would mean that two of Sudan's largest rebel factions had pooled resources in the conflict's first attack on the capital.

JEM rebels attacked government troops Monday in the Jebel Moon area of western Darfur, a JEM stronghold, local sources told CNN, quoting government sources. There were no details on damage or casualties immediately available.

Residents in the capital told CNN that sporadic gunbattles broke out in different areas of central Khartoum during the day, as they had on Sunday.

Sudanese officials said they were chasing JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim after saying initially they had killed him over the weekend. According to Sudan's official news agency, SUNA, National Defense Minister Gen. Abdul-Rahim Mohamed Hussein said Sudanese forces were seeking him in Darfur, although Ibrahim told The Associated Press in an interview that he was in Omdurman.

CNN's Sarah Sultoon and Nic Robertson in El Fasher, Sudan, and Elham Nakhlawi in Dubai, U.A.E., contributed to this report.

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