Sudan allows former foe Israel to fly over its territory - Gaddafi said Israel, not Bashir, behind Darfur war

Sudan allows former foe Israel to fly over its territory
Report by BBC World Service

Dated 17 February 2020

BBC Image credit and caption: Nur Photo

The first Israeli plane crossed Sudan on Saturday on its way to South America (file photo)

Israel says it has begun flying commercial aircraft through Sudanese airspace under an agreement with the Khartoum government.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told a group of visiting US Jewish leaders that the first Israeli plane crossed Sudan on Saturday, bound for South America.

He said the new air corridor would cut the flying time on the route by three hours.

Sudan said in early Ferbruary that it had given initial approval for Israeli planes to fly over its territory.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel was discussing rapid normalisation of ties with its former foe.

Sudan, which has close ties with the Palestinians, has stopped short of referring to improving ties with Israel.

View Original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cq23pdgvgm8t/sudan

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Copy of Reuters report from the archives of Sudan Watch 2009:

Gaddafi says Israel, not Bashir, behind Darfur war

Report from Reuters

Written by Lamine Ghanmi; Editing by Kevin Liffey 

Dated 24 February 2009 / 6:43 PM / 11 YEARS AGO

TRIPOLI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current African Union president, on Tuesday accused "foreign forces" including Israel of being behind the Darfur conflict.

Judges from the International Criminal Court are due to announce on March 4 whether they will issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. U.N. diplomats have told Reuters the warrant will be issued.

But Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, urged the Court to stop its proceedings against Bashir:

"Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv (Israel), for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?"

Gaddafi suggested, without presenting any evidence, that the Israeli military was among those stoking the conflict:

"It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire," Gaddafi said, according to the Libyan state news agency Jana.

"We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire."

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government in 2003, accusing it of neglecting the Darfur region. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the rebellion.

International experts say the fighting has killed 200,000 people and uprooted 2.7 million. Sudan’s government denies any genocide, saying that 10,000 have been killed and that Western media exaggerate the conflict.

Gaddafi himself has made a number of attempts to broker peace talks between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government. 

View Original: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLO50752
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FURTHER READING
From the archives of Sudan Watch:

August 17, 2019

Ex-Israel spy admits lobbying US on behalf of Sudan military council

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2019/08/dickens-madson-lobbyists-dont-know.html

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May 27, 2009

Suspected Israeli airstrike on a convoy in Sudan January 2009 killed 119 people

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/05/suspected-israeli-airstrike-on-convoy.html

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April 13, 2009

Envoy to Tehran stresses Mossad's role in Sudan's insecurity

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/sudans-envoy-to-tehran-stresses-mossads.html

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April 05, 2009

Africa Confidential heard that another arms convoy was moving north near Red Sea coast and Egyptian forces were moving to Sudan border to block it

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/africa-confidential-heard-that-another.html

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March 26, 2009

Unidentified aircraft destroyed suspected arms convoy in E. Sudan last January (Update 4)

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/unidentified-aircraft-destroyed.html

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February 28, 2009

AU Chairman: Hard Evidence Proves Israel behind Darfur Conflict

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/au-chairman-hard-evidence-proves-israel.html

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February 18, 2009

SLM's Abdel Wahid al-Nur visits Israel - 

Sudanese rebel leader meets with Israeli spies

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/slms-abdel-wahid-al-nur-visits-israel.html

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February 03, 2009

Israeli owner of MV Faina pays $3.2m ransom - Its cargo destined for Darfur? JEM has received heavy military logistical support from Israel?

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/israeli-owner-of-mv-faina-pays-32m.html

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October 31, 2008

Ukraine says military hardware carried by hijacked Ukrainian ship MV Faina had been officially sold to Kenya (Update 1)

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2008/10/ukraine-says-military-hardware-carried.html

UNAMID chief warns that tensions between Sudan and Chad remain "one of the major obstacles to the peace and security of Darfur"

UN News Centre reported that on Friday, 17 July 2009, the head of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur called on Sudan and Chad to end any hostile activities along their border amid fresh accusations of air strikes in the troubled region:

"Rodolphe Adada, the Joint AU-UN Special Representative, warned that the continuing tensions between the neighbouring countries remain “one of the major obstacles to the peace and security of Darfur.”

Mr. Adada, who heads the joint peacekeeping mission known as UNAMID, issued a press statement after Sudan accused Chad of carrying out air strikes in Umm Dukhum, a West Darfur village on its border with Chad.

“We are deeply concerned at such reports, which are being investigated by UNAMID, and I once again urge all parties to refrain from such escalation,” he said.

Mr. Adada stressed that dialogue is the only solution for the tensions between Chad and Sudan.

“I encourage you [the two Governments] to desist from conflict even as diplomatic efforts are being undertaken to bring an end to the ongoing tensions, which could exacerbate conditions for Darfur’s civilians. Good relations between Chad and Sudan are a key to ensuring lasting peace in the area.”

In Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report to the Security Council on the work of UNAMID, released today, he said he is deeply concerned by the ongoing instability along the border and the “inflammatory rhetoric” of both sides.

Mr. Ban called on Khartoum and N’Djamena to end their support for one another’s rebel groups and to normalize their bilateral relations."

Full story:  UN News Centre, Friday, 17 July 2009 -- Joint African Union-UN envoy speaks out amid renewed Sudanese-Chadian tensions

EUFOR Chad/CAR Mission: Russia airlifts 4 Mi-8 helicopters and 30 personnel to Chad to help EU - Chad's relationship with JEM may be about to change

Darfur rebel group JEM leaders and fighters pass back and forth across the porous border between Darfur and Chad. Earlier this year, JEM fighters helped Chadian President Deby's forces repel a coup attempt. But now Chad's relationship with JEM may be about to change. Here's the story.

A possible detente between Chad and Sudan has implications for the conflict, writes Mary Fitzgerald,  Foreign Affairs Correspondent, in N'Djamena, November 27, 2008 for the Irish Times:

CHAD NO LONGER SO WELCOMING TO CROSS-BORDER DARFUR REBELS

THE REBELS are smartly dressed and blend in easily with the guests milling around the airy lobby of one of N'Djamena's more expensive hotels. Their eyes dart about but only to anticipate the next passerby who will stop and shake their hands - and there are many.

The two men are leading members of the Justice and Equality Movement or JEM, one of the rebel groups involved in years of fighting with government forces in neighbouring Darfur. The business card of the first, Ahmed Tugod Lissan, identifies him as JEM's chief negotiator.

The other, Bushara Suliman Nour, is JEM's secretary for foreign affairs. The two men, along with other JEM leaders and fighters, pass back and forth across the porous border between Darfur and Chad, the latter a place of sanctuary for the movement and its government a source of crucial support. That support works both ways. Earlier this year, when Chadian rebels opposed to the country's president Idriss Deby made an audacious swoop on N'Djamena, it was JEM fighters who helped Deby's forces repel the attack.

But there are signs that Chad's relationship with JEM may be about to change. The capital buzzes with rumours of a possible detente between Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir. Earlier this month the two countries restored diplomatic relations and Sudanese officials have claimed a meeting between the two heads of state is in the offing. Where that leaves JEM remains to be seen. But my run-in yesterday with Chadian police may provide some clues.

Minutes after I, along with a French journalist colleague, watched the JEM representatives walk away following our interview, two men approached. After identifying themselves as plainclothes police, they explained that their chief wanted to see us. At police headquarters my colleague, a TV reporter, had the tape of his interview confiscated.

Interviewing JEM figures would have been fine a month or so ago, the chief told us, but not now. "The situation has changed," he said gruffly, describing our two interviewees as "delinquents".

Led by the charismatic Khalil Ibrahim, known to his supporters as Dr Khalil, JEM is now acknowledged to be one of the leading rebel movements in Darfur, in part because other groups have been riven by infighting and factionalism.

The conflict in the northwestern Sudanese province broke out in earnest in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of discrimination, marginalisation and neglect.

In response, Khartoum carried out bombing raids on Darfur and unleashed militias that laid waste its villages, plundering, raping and burning as they went. Five years later, it is estimated more than 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict which has now broadened into inter-ethnic violence and prompted the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

Tugod Lissan admits he never expected the government's response to be so ferocious. "What they have done is not simple war, it is crimes against humanity, genocide . . . and those who are responsible for these crimes should be held accountable by any means."

Earlier this month, al-Bashir declared a unilateral ceasefire and pledged to begin disarming militias, a move many believe was prompted by the pressure he feels since the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor announced moves to seek his arrest, accusing the Sudanese president of overseeing a campaign of genocide in Darfur.

Al-Bashir's promises carry little weight with JEM.

"We will not judge the government by what they say, rather by what they do and what they are doing on the ground is completely different from what they are saying," shrugs Tugod Lissan, claiming that government forces attacked rebel positions within days of the ceasefire.

A Qatari-sponsored initiative is the latest attempt to solve the Darfur conflict and JEM has said it is ready to participate in the proposed Doha conference or, as Tugod Lissan puts it, "talks about talks".

"If we are convinced that the government is genuine in wanting to solve the problem and bring peace to Darfur, we will respect the ceasefire . . . and then we will be ready for a constructive political dialogue to go into the root causes of the conflict," he says. "We believe that it is better for al-Bashir and his government to come clean, to sit and solve the crisis because we have the desire and the willingness to solve this problem by peaceful means, but at the same time we are ready for the other options."

Both he and Nour are frank about their ties with Deby. "The Sudan government believes the Darfur conflict cannot be solved if Deby remains in power so the battle of N'Djamena [in February] was also a battle of Darfur - that's the reason we came with our own forces to this city to defend Deby because we saw the Sudan government supporting, preparing and instructing the Chadian opposition . . . The game is obvious."

This article appeared in the print edition of the Irish Times.
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RUSSIA AIRLIFTS HELICOPTERS TO CHAD FOR EU PEACEKEEPING MISSION
December 08, 2008 Associated Press report:

The Russian military says it has airlifted helicopters and crews to Chad to join a European Union peacekeeping mission in the African nation.

Russian air force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik says a military cargo plane delivered four Mi-8 helicopters and 30 crew members and support personnel to Chad on Monday.

He said the military will need to fly some additional personnel to Chad before the Russian helicopters start supporting the EU mission. Some 3,500 European troops have been deployed this year to help stabilize areas of eastern Chad and the Central African Republic bordering Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

The Kremlin authorized sending the helicopters earlier this year. The deployment marked the first direct Russian contribution to an EU military mission.

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RUSSIA 'READY TO HELP EU' IN CHAD
BBC report September 09, 2008 - excerpt:

Russia is preparing to provide four transport helicopters with crew to help the EU's peace mission in Chad - despite tensions over Georgia.

The EU force commander, General Patrick Nash, says talks about the Russian helicopters are "very advanced".

The operation - called Eufor Chad/CAR - has been hampered by a shortage of helicopters, needed to reach refugees scattered over a vast area of desert.

Photo: Helicopters are needed for rapid reaction across huge distances (AFP/BBC)

See next post at Sudan Watch December 08, 2008:
EUFOR Chad/CAR Mission: Russia sends helicopters, peacekeepers to Chad