From Sudan Tribune:
Sudan military court hand death sentences on 18 Darfur stationed soldiers: report
Sunday 17 January 2010.
(KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese military court sentenced 18 soldiers to death charging them with insubordination and mutiny, a newspaper reported this week.
The members of the Sudanese army belonged to different ranks, according to the pro-SPLM Ajras Al-Hurriya newspaper, refused to deploy from Al-Obayid city in Kordofan state to the town of Umbro in Northern Darfur and instead went to the Al-Fasher capital city in a convoy of 26 vehicles.
The report did not say what prompted this action from the soldiers. During the peak of the Darfur conflict in 2003-2004 there were numerous reports of mutiny among Darfuri pilots and soldiers in the army who refused to carry out orders of attack in the war ravaged region.
The defendants were found guilty of violating articles of the Armed Forces Act, including violation of instructions the commander in chief. Families of the convicted soldiers appealed to the Sudanese president and the minister of defense to overrule the sentence.
The court sentenced 17 others to imprisonment for a period ranging from five to six months while others have been acquitted. The attorneys told the newspaper they are planning an appeal.
A spokesperson for the Sudanese army declined to confirm or deny the report when reached by Ajras Al-Hurriya.
The army commander of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Suleiman Sandal hailed the “bravery” of the soldiers.
“They have done the right thing and sided with the people, refusing to carry orders of the Bashir who is the commander in chief of the army” Sandal told Sudan Tribune by satellite phone from an undisclosed location
“Bashir is a war criminal indicted by an international court so complying with his orders is a violation of international law and humanitarian norms” he added.
Sandal called on the appeals court to bear in mind that what the convicted soldier “were in compliance with the law” and urged the defense lawyers to stress this in their filings.
- From Reuters:
Darfur rebels say Sudan army attacks market area
Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:22pm EST
KHARTOUM, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Darfur rebels said Sudan's army had attacked their troops in a populated area of the western state of North Darfur on Saturday, escalating fighting ahead of peace talks due to open this month.
Tensions were already high in oil-producing Sudan which is gearing up for presidential, parliamentary and state governor elections in April.
Saturday's attack follows an assault by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) on the government garrison town Golo in Jabel Marra last Wednesday after days of government bombardment of rebel positions in Sudan's remote west.
"The government attacked our areas in the market area of Furug," SLA commander Ibrahim el-Helwu told Reuters. "This is a heavily populated area," he added.
The army spokesman's office was not immediately available to comment and the U.N.-African Union peacekeepers (UNAMID) said they were checking the reports.
"All the areas under the control of SLA (Abdel Wahed)...are a no-go area for us," UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni said.
The rebels accuse the mission of working too closely with Khartoum and refuse to allow them to enter their areas.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2009 for war crimes during a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in Sudan's west after rebels took up arms in 2003 demanding more autonomy.
Darfur's fighting sparked a humanitarian crisis which the United Nations estimates has claimed 300,000 lives and driven more than 2 million from their homes.
Fighting has largely subsided since the early battles, but sporadic clashes have since pushed rebels out of the main towns and into the vast swathes of arid countryside.
