Keep Off West Bank, Israel Warns Khartoum

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday July 04, 2002 11:55 by Gek? : Nairobi

Cathy Majtenyi and Matthias Muindi

THE ISRAELI embassy in Nairobi has condemned a plan by Sudanese elements in Sudan to train volunteers to fight in the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A senior diplomat said that Israel would view the Sudanese volunteers like other terrorists

Whether fighters come from Sudan, Afghanistan, or any other country, "if Chairman [Yasser] Arafat does not arrest terrorists, Israel will intervene," Einat Kessler, second secretary of the Israeli embassy, told The EastAfrican last week.

"It's very unfortunate that such an important country in Africa is using its land and resources [to fight in Israel] rather than striving towards peace, even in their own country," she said, adding that Sudanese should "concentrate on their own crisis at home."

Kessler's warning was prompted by an announcement on Sudan TV on April 6 by Major General Ahmed Abbas, the commander of the pro-government, paramilitary Popular Defence Force (PDF), that the force would mobilise all Sudanese men and women to "protect" the Palestinian people and "liberate" Jerusalem. "This is a call to all parties, institutions, trade unions, students and youths, men and women, to join the camps," he said.

"The training camps are ready to receive volunteer fighters as from today," he had announced, adding that the camps were set up according to a directive by Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Bashir has not commented publicly on the issue, but it is widely known that his government is closely aligned with the PDF, which was formed in November 1989, five months after he had come to power. Since then, the paramilitary force has been instrumental in the government attacks against the rebel Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA) in the country's civil war.

The United States government reacted swiftly to Abbas' announcement. In a statement it issued on April 8, the US State Department said that the US was watching developments "very closely" and had expressed its concern to the Sudan government.

"If the Sudanese government is serious about improving its international standing and improving its relations with the US, it must cease the rhetoric of Jihad and violence," said the statement. It also called on Middle East states to do what they could to promote peace in the region, and urged the Palestinian authority "to seek a solution to the conflict without further bloodshed."

However, Khidir Haroun Ahmed, Sudan's ambassador to the US, denied on April 9 that there were any plans to set up such camps. "We are not going to operate any camps to train terrorists in our country," he told the internet website allAfrica.com. According to the diplomat, negotiations leading to a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and other occupied Palestinian territories, as proposed by a new peace initiative by Saudi Arabia, are the best way out of the escalating conflict. He added: "What Israel is doing reminds us of colonialism in many, many ways."

One senior US intelligence source told the Wall Street Journal on April 9 that Bashir's recent moves had created anxiety in Washington, rekindling doubts about Khartoum's is sincerity in its stated commitment to fight international terrorism.

"It certainly looks unhelpful," reported the paper, quoting a senior US official working in Kenya, "but we're not sure yet whether this is just a ploy by the Sudanese to vent rising domestic anger over Israel, or if it's a genuine plan to do something really stupid."

Since then, the Sudanese government has apparently assured Washington that it does not intend to follow through with its earlier announcement to actively support the Intifada. "We were informed by the Sudanese government that there was no intention of setting up camps to train militants," after the US had expressed its concern over the establishment of these camps, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said April 23 in Washington.

"I don't think the Palestinian authority needs more terrorists," opined Kessler, adding that the "Israeli government is demanding that Arafat arrest all terrorists."

Kessler questioned the motivation and the behind-the-scenes politics of Sudan's move to set up the training camps. "Was it done because of Chairman Arafat? Or because of a terrorist organisation like Hamas?"

She said that if Arafat had struck a deal with Khartoum, it would show that the Palestinian leader was not serious about negotiating a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis. However, she added, if Hamas or another organisation had contacted Khartoum, then Arafat had lost control of the terrorist organisations, which for long have undermined Arafat's power, are now in charge.

When asked about Abbas' announcement and the motivation behind it, the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi would not discuss the matter. "Here in Nairobi, we don't have anything to do with Sudan's foreign policy as regards the Middle East," said Ahmed Diedery, Charge d'Affaires in the Embassy of Sudan in Nairobi. "We can't comment on that."

Dr Samson Kwaje, the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army official spokesperson and secretary for information and culture, said that Hamas and two other Palestinian organisations have offices in Khartoum, which shows that there is some sort of relationship between Hamas and the Sudan government.

But what was the PDF's most likely motivation for joining the Palestinian cause was ideology from within Sudan, he said. "These are pan-Arabists, they are Islamists," said Kwaje. "They interpret the war in Israel as Arabs being attacked. They also want to exploit the usual anti-American sentiments." There is also a monetary incentive, aid Kwaje: "They can solicit money from the Arab world" to support the "martyrs" and their families.

Kwaje estimated that up to 15 per cent of Sudan's population of 30 million were "Islamic zealots" who would likely join these camps or otherwise be involved with the Palestinian cause. According to information received by the SPLA, the PDF is paying each volunteer $500 every three months for training and fighting, claimed Kwaje.

He also wondered whether the PDF would actually send volunteers and resources to the West Bank as announced or retain those volunteers and resources to continue the civil war in Sudan. "These are terrorists who can be used internationally and also locally," said Kwaje. "We know that the war [in Sudan] is not yet over. They can use all tactics to recruit."

Anti-Israeli and American sentiments fanned by Abbas recent announcement have been festering in Khartoum since the beginning of April. At an April 7 march organised by the Popular Organisation to Support the Palestinian Intifada, a committee backed by the ruling party, state-controlled trade unions, and Islamic clerics, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted: "Strike back, bin Laden," calling on (Osama) bin Laden to launch attacks on Israel and the US.

And three days before Abbas' television appearance, Mohammed Osman Saleh, the Vice-Chancellor of Khartoum's Omdurman Islamic University, told the Palestinian Ambassador to Sudan, Mahmud Abu Rajai: "A thousand young men from Omdurman Islamic University and another thousand from the Holy Quran University are ready at your disposal." As Saleh said this, protesters shouted, "No to peace, yes to jihad."

The rhetoric is being backed by fund-raising efforts in all mosques and other public places in Sudan. A daily Sudanese paper, Al Anbaa, stated on April 9 that the country's Workers Trade Unions Federation had donated $400,000 for the Palestinian cause.

At the same time, 44 eminent Sudanese Muslim scholars issued a stern warning in early April that all Islamic armies "should not stand with their arms folded while Israel is killing the Palestinians." They also called for smuggling arms into Palestinian territories.