2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum


In May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement, a Darfur ethnic minority rebel group, undertook a raid against the Sudanese government in the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum.
From the government's viewpoint, the attack took place on a single day, May 10, 2008, while JEM has countered the government's account with reports of heavy fighting in parts of the Khartoum metropolitan area into May 11. More than 220 people were reported to be killed in the raid, including a Russian pilot, and scores were later sentenced to death.
It was the first time that the War in Darfur, previously confined to western Sudan, reached the country's capital. Overall, the war has claimed the lives of up to 300,000 people, with 2.5 million more made homeless since 2003. Despite decades of warfare in Southern Sudan, Khartoum had not experienced any street fighting since 1976.

The battle

On May 10, 2008, Sudanese National Islamic Front government troops and a large group of rebels from Darfur clashed in the city of Omdurman, opposite of Khartoum. Witnesses reported heavy gunfire and artillery fire in the west of Sudan's capital and Sudan People's Armed Forces helicopters and vehicles rushing through the streets towards Omdurman.
As the Justice and Equality Movement rebels in a convoy of 130 all-terrain vehicles approached the capital, a Russian military pilot working as a military instructor Sudanese Air Force climbed into a MiG-29 combat jet and attempted to strafe the column. The plane was shot down by a large-calibre machine gun and the pilot was killed as his parachute did not open after ejecting. Despite the efforts of the Sudanese and Russian governments to conceal the incident, news of his death was leaked by the independent Echo of Moscow radio station in Russia and the Sudanese newspaper Alwan.
JEM forces entered the city of Omdurman, targeting the Arba'een military base and the Al-Aswat police station. Government troops backed up by tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships were immediately deployed to Omdurman, and heavy fighting raged for several hours. The rebels then started to move towards the Al-Ingaz bridge to cross the White Nile into Khartoum in an apparent attempt to reach the Presidential Palace, while another JEM force headed towards the National Radio and Television building in Omdurman. Both attacks were repelled by government forces.
After recapturing the strategic military airbase at Wadi-Sayedna, Sudanese government soldiers stopped the rebel advance just short of the country's parliament, and by late afternoon Sudanese TV said that the rebels had been "completely repulsed", while showing live pictures of burnt vehicles and bodies on the street. Sudanese police said the alleged leader of the attackers, Mohamed Saleh Garbo, and his intelligence chief, Mohamed Nur Al-Deen, were both killed in the clash. The government declared an overnight curfew shortly after its announced cessation of hostilities at 1400 GMT. The JEM, however, had denied the government's claim of victory against the rebels, instead stating that fighting was still going on in Omdurman and Khartoum North.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, sporadic fighting continued for the next 48 hours. Omdurman residents said there was more fighting on the morning of May 11. There were also reports of fighting on May 12 at markets in central Khartoum, and on the other bank of the Blue Nile. Residents in Banat and Al-Muhandiseen areas reported some shootings in the area, and an eyewitness said that the Sudanese security forces set a siege around one of the buildings said to be occupied by the JEM fighters. On the same day, the JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim spoke by telephone to the Associated Press claiming to still be within Omdurman with his fighters, and vowed to continue attacks in a long guerrilla war. The group has identified their goal as the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir's military government.
On May 14, the Sudanese defense minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein said 93 of his soldiers and 13 policemen died in the battle, along with 30 civilians and more than 90 Justice and Equality Movement rebels. He also said the rebels lost at least two-thirds of their vehicles, while the interior minister Ibrahim Mahmoud said the government forces destroyed more than 40 and seized about 17 vehicles. Also on this day, JEM admitted defeat in the raid in which they said a third of all their fighters took part, but promised further attacks on the capital. The group's deputy chairman, Mahmoud Suleiman, said in a statement that it "might have lost the Khartoum battle and pulled out in dignity... but it has not lost the war."

Aftermath

and ten other members of the oppositionist Popular National Congress party, a splinter faction of the ruling National Congress, were arrested at dawn in their homes in Khartoum because of their alleged links to the rebels. Turabi was released later that day, denying any such relationship between the PNC and JEM.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim ruled out any ceasefire with Khartoum unless a political accord is signed, lashed out at the international community, accusing it of impotence in its response to the Darfur crisis, and hailed the position of the Sudanese Communist Party for not condemning the attack. The government said it has learned lessons from the raid and will be better prepared next time. It also offered a US$125,000 bounty for Ibrahim, who has been allegedly wounded during fighting on May 10 in Omdurman.
By April 2009, the Sudanese government had sentenced 82 Justice and Equality Movement members, including the top rebel Abdul Aziz Ashur, half-brother of Khalil Ibrahim, to death by hanging as guilty of terrorism and illegal possession of weapons. As one batch of the sentences was handed down, the condemned men stood up and shouted "Go, JEM, go!" and "Go, Khalil, go!" By November 2009, the number of these sentenced for death crossed 100, including six JEM child soldiers; however, scores of other children accused of taking part in the raid were pardoned and freed by President al-Bashir.

Impact on Sudanese-Chadian relations

Sudan accused its neighbor Chad of providing haven and ammunition to the rebels, and the Sudanese government had announced that rebels were moving over the border from Chad to the Darfur region, which is the epicenter of the conflict between Darfuri rebels and pro-government Janjaweed militants; the rebels then moved over some of desert and scrub from Darfur to the Khartoum metropolitan area. Chad denied the allegations, but Sudan immediately cut off relations with Chad for the first time since a non-aggression pact was signed between the two countries' governments in mid-March.

International reactions