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Sudanese rebels approach vital dam
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January 15, 1997
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT)KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) - Sudanese troops rushed to the Blue Nile town of Damazin Wednesday to reinforce army units caught short by four days of attacks along the eastern borders of the country.
Sudanese rebels said their forces had advanced to within 50 miles of Damazin, and they were pressing on with an offensive that began Sunday. Damazin, which is 290 miles (470 kilometers) southeast of Khartoum, is the site of a hydroelectric plant that supplies 80 percent of the capital's power.
The rebels claim to have taken two border towns southeast of Damazin and an army garrison near the eastern town of Kassala, close to the border of Eritrea.
The Sudanese army contends Ethiopia was behind the first wave of attacks, and Wednesday it accused the Eritrean government of shelling a Sudanese border post at Gotned in support of attacking rebels.
But the Sudanese rebels say they are responsible for the fighting.
And according to Yassir Arman, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Eritrea, the latest rebel gains mark a turning point in the war against the Islamic-oriented government in Khartoum that took power through a military coup in 1989.
The rebels want to end what they see as the unjust domination of the mainly Muslim and Arabized north over the animist and Christian south.
Rebels hope to spur popular uprising
Arman said the rebels do not expect to overrun the country, but hope to weaken the government enough to provoke an uprising of students, trade unionists and others against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
The SPLA is the largest group of rebels in southern Sudan. It has joined forces with the National Democratic Alliance, an umbrella group whose forces are mainly northerners based in Eritrea.
Alliance spokesmen operating out of Cairo called Wednesday for an uprising against the government, saying, "We call on our people ... to escalate their struggle and bring forth a popular uprising to end the evil regime."
But Sudan state radio reports that the country is on a war footing since al-Bashir mobilized the army Monday, and is unlikely to yield.
"Damazin is receiving convoy after convoy of mujahidin (holy warriors) on their way to the front line," it reported.
Also in Khartoum, a battalion of women on its way to the battle zone paraded through the streets to army headquarters, where Defense Minister Hasan Abdel-Rahman Ali told them the attack in the east was part of a plot against the unity of Sudan.
Sudanese vice president flies to Cairo
The government claims the army has won victories at Chali el-Fil in Blue Nile province and at Hamashkoureb near Kassala. Information Minister al-Tayeb Ibrahim Mohamed Khair said 200 enemy troops were killed at the second battle.
Meanwhile, Sudanese Vice-President Maj. Gen. Zubair Mohamed Saleh, flew to Cairo "to review the situation in Sudan in light of the recent military operations in east Sudan," according to Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.
Relations between Egypt and Sudan have been severely strained since Egypt accused Sudan of involvement in a 1995 assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak.
It is well-known that in recent weeks, Mubarak and senior Egyptian officials have been meeting with prominent Sudanese opposition figures, including former Prime Minister Sadek el-Mahdi, who fled Sudan last month.
Egypt and Sudan share a border and the Nile River. The Egyptian government worries that a breakaway Sudanese republic could try to claim water from the Nile now used by Egypt.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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