Nonsensical Bin Laden calls for jihad in Sudan's Darfur

Just as the final round of Darfur peace talks nears April 30 deadline set by the AU Peace and Security Council, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urges his followers to prepare for a long war against "Western would-be occupiers in Darfur", according to an audiotape attributed to him and aired on Sunday, Reuters reported Apr 23, 2006.

See text of nonsensical audio statement, purportedly from bin Laden, aired on Al Jazeera. The Telegraph reported:

In the tape broadcast on the Arabic TV station this afternoon, bin Laden calls on his followers in Sudan to fight a proposed UN force in Darfur.

"I call on Mujahedin and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan," said bin Laden, who was based in Sudan before it expelled him under threats from the US.

Apr 23 2006 Aljazeera Hamas distances itself from Bin Laden - "It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians" Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman.

Apr 23 2006 BBC - 'Bin Laden' accuses West - excerpts

Apr 23 2006 ST AP - "We are aware of the tape and a technical analysis of the recording is being conducted," a US intelligence official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Al-Jazeera news reader said bin Laden, in a portion of the tape not aired by the Qatar-based broadcaster, scoffed at Saudi King Abdullah for his calls for a "dialogue among civilizations" and blasted liberal-minded Arab writers for taking part in the Western cultural invasion of Muslim lands.

Apr 23 2006 New Sudan Vision Bin Laden rejects CPA saying "Let (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir and (US President George W Bush) Bush know that this agreement is not worth the ink in which it was written with and does not oblige us in the least."

Apr 23 2006 Guardian AP - "It's when people have kind of forgotten about him, when he's not been on the news, that the tapes emerge," Ayers said. "It's kind of his way of thumbing his nose at the US and saying, 'Hey, I'm still out here, and you haven't caught me and you can't.' That's what he's saying."

Apr 24 2006 Olberlin Times Prophet cartoon offenders must be killed - bin Laden: "Heretics and atheists, who denigrate religion and transgress against God and His Prophet, will not stop their enmity toward Islam except by being killed," the Saudi-born militant said.

Apr 24 2006 BBC Bin Laden call falls on deaf ears - A call attributed to Osama Bin Laden for Islamic holy war in Sudan and other Muslim states has been disowned by the Sudanese government and Hamas. Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim, Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman is quoted as saying: "We are not concerned with any mujahideen or any Crusade or any war with the international community."



Photo: Archival Footage of Osama bin Laden in Sudan - see Mar 26 2006 Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal says Sudanese government call to arms is carried out through tribal leaders