KHARTOUM, Sudan: Fear and anger yesterday followed a Sudanese rebel strike on a major town residents said had been left unguarded and was hit during coordinated attacks in the insurgents’ most audacious act in years.
In Umm Rawaba, a previously peaceful community of thousands which bore the brunt of Saturday’s attack, residents said about 300 youths stoned a convoy carrying North Kordofan state governor Murghani Hussein Zaki-Adeen, and federal Electricity Minister Osama Abdullah Mohammed.
“Where were you yesterday?” witnesses said protesters shouted after the governor visited the homes of people who died in the unrest.
Youths then set fire to local government buildings, said witnesses.
Residents complained that the town, the second largest in North Kordofan, had been left undefended when insurgents briefly occupied it on Saturday.
The death toll was unclear but included some policemen, according to residents and officials.
Rebels said eight of their number died during the operation, four in battle and four in accidents.
North Kordofan has been largely free from the insurgencies in the Darfur region to its west, and South Kordofan to its south.
A rebel coalition, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), said it attacked Umm Rawaba and several other areas as part of its strategy to reach Khartoum and overthrow the 24-year regime of President Omar Hassan
Al Bashir.
Umm Rawaba is about 100 kilometres east of the state capital El Obeid, which is home to an air force base and yesterday was tense with armoured vehicles deployed and soldiers in the streets, a resident said.
AFP
