Israeli airport for Sudanese rebels; Al-Mahdi denies government contact
Sudan-Israel, Politics, 9/18/2002

Sudanese security sources announced that Israel built an airport for the rebels in Nikosh city in southern Sudan, near the Sudanese borders with Kenya, while the chairman of the opposition nation party al-Sadeq al-Mahdi announced that there is no dialogue or contact between his party and the government at the meantime.

The Sudanese sources said that Israel built the airport to be used for taking off and landing of war planes of large size. The sources added that Israel is training members of Southern Sudan rebels to use tanks and anti missiles tanks in addition to developing skills for field training, noting that the leader of the rebels movement John Garang admitted he had made repeated visits to Israel.

The spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), Samsoun Kawaji, denied in Nairobi that Israel provides the rebels with weapons and train its members.

He said "these claims are mere lies created by the Islamic regime in Khartoum in order to get the support of the Arab and Islamic world."

Meantime, al-Mahdi denied any contact between his party and the government. Al-Mahdi whose party split from the Sudanese opposition coalition abroad in March 2000 and returned to the country following bilateral negotiations with the government, was making negotiations with it during the past phase in order to reach a new political formula for ruling Sudan.

However, relations between the two sides deteriorated greatly recently when Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi split from the main party and joined a coalition that is working with the government of the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir which had offered him eight ministerial posts.

The chairman of Ummah party called on the government and the rebels to resume the negotiations. He said the only option for everyone, government and opposition, is but peace and the comprehensive political solution. He called for the unity of northern forces to support the negotiation position. He criticized the attachement of the ruling party to small and ineffective parties at a time when the southern forces are uniting.

Al-Mahdi announced that the current preparations to convene the general conference of the party in January 2003.

Previous Stories:
  Sudan, French FMs held talks in New York   (9/16/2002)
  Alwan: Muslim Brothers and the Islamic Sharia law in Sudan   (9/16/2002)
  Sudan: Israel backs the rebels   (9/16/2002)
  Sudan, Iraq and the oil weapon   (4/4/2002)
  No ties of any sort between Israel, Sudan   (1/31/2002)

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