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Sudan rebels in Darfur, border states sign alliance

12 November 2011 18:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region and troubled southern border states said Saturday they had formed an alliance to topple the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, raising the prospect of more violence in the volatile areas, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Analysts say the move signaled attempts at closer military coordination among various rebel groups left in Sudan after South Sudan seceded in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum.

Sudan’s army is fighting separate insurgencies in the western region of Darfur as well as in the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile bordering South Sudan.

Violence in the joint border region has led to tensions between Khartoum and South Sudan. The United Nations accused Sudan this week of having bombed a refugee camp in South Sudan, a charge denied by Khartoum.

Khartoum and Juba accuse each other of backing rebels in each other’s territories.

Darfur’s main rebel groups -- the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) -- and the SPLM-N, which fights the army in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, said they had formed a political and military alliance.

The alliance is focused on "toppling the regime of the (Sudan’s ruling) National Congress Party with all possible means" and replace it with a democratic system, the groups said in a joint statement sent to Reuters Saturday.

A joint military committee will be formed to coordinate military action against Khartoum, it said, without elaborating.

"This is a military and political alliance. We will coordinate fighting to end this government which wants no peace," said Ibrahim el-Hilu, a spokesman for one faction of the SLA.

Analysts say the move may mean no immediate military threat to Bashir but dashes hopes of a political solution to end insurgencies in Darfur and southern border regions.

Fighting erupted between SPLM-N rebels and the army in South Kordofan in June and spread to neighboring Blue Nile state in September. Both states are home to populations who sided with the South Sudan during a decades-long civil war with the Khartoum government and now complain of marginalization.

Khartoum accuses Juba of backing the SPLM-N, a group that, before the secession of South Sudan, was the northern wing of the south’s ruling party.

A separate insurgency has raged in Darfur since 2003, again involving rebel groups who say they have been marginalized by the political elite in Khartoum.

Sudan signed a peace accord with a small Darfur rebel group Thursday, but JEM and other larger groups have refused to sign.