SLM-UNITY AND SAF BOTH CLAIM VICTORY IN NORTH DARFUR FIGHT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000882 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, SE WILLIAMSON, IO/PSC DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS KPKO SU SUBJECT: SLM-UNITY AND SAF BOTH CLAIM VICTORY IN NORTH DARFUR FIGHT ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Fighting between SLM-Unity and Sudanese Armed Forces broke out on June 8 in North Darfur State. SLM-Unity representatives claimed victory, alleging that they killed more than 150 SAF soldiers and destroyed dozens of SAF vehicles. SAF reported they suffered only fourteen casualties and that GoS forces now control the area. A second, separate clash may have taken place the following day near the Libyan border. END SUMMARY. SLM-UNITY DECLARES VICTORY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (U) On June 8, the spokesman for SLM-Unity, Mahgoub Hussein issued a press release on sudaneseonline.com declaring that SLM-Unity succeeded in a military ambush on SAF between El Taweisha and Gussa Jammat (approximately 200 km southeast of El Fasher in Um Kadada locality of North Darfur State.) According to the statement, SLM-Unity killed 157 SAF soldiers, seized five vehicles, and destroyed SAF equipment including 19 military vehicles filled with supplies, ammunition and some "internationally banned weapons including cluster bombs." The statement reports that SLM-Unity lost seven of its fighters in the combat. Chief Commander of SLM-Unity, Abu-Bakr Kado, later told the international press that the fighting continued for approximately three hours and that "We fought them [SAF] because the government forces entered our territories." ¶3. (SBU) On June 11, SLM-Unity leaders Osman Bushra and Sayed Sharif confirmed in separate phone conversations with emboffs that heavy fighting between SLM-Unity and SAF occurred on June 8. According to these sources, SAF forces provoked the fight by moving into SLM-Unity "liberated areas" on June 8. Bushra stated that SLM-Unity killed approximately 150 soldiers, destroyed 80 vehicles, and captured 8 others. According to Bushra, the commander of the SAF forces escaped with approximately ten vehicles, and SLM-Unity suffered six casualties and fourteen wounded. SAF: WE ARE IN CONTROL OF THE AREA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (U) Also on June 11, most Sudanese newspapers carried a statement from the Sudanese Armed Forces, stating that it repelled an ambush planned by the SLM-Unity in Um Kadada locality of North Darfur. General Mohamed Al Aghbash, the SAF Spokesman, said that the SAF forces lost 14 soldiers in the ambush, but succeeded in driving SLM-Unity away from the area which SAF had completely secured. The SAF Spokesman stated that SLM-Unity left "a very big number of killed and injured behind in the attack, and a large quantity of military equipment which is still being inventoried." Al Aghbash called other reports on the attack "baseless," as "SLM-Unity always attempts to exaggerate in the media, while the facts on the ground confirm their fleeing and huge loss both in terms of resources and personnel." OTHER REPORTS FROM SLM-MM AND UNAMID - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) SLM-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) contacts in North Darfur told fieldoffs on June 10 that the fighting took place in a GoS-controlled area, close to SLA-MM areas. According to these sources, SLA-Unity approached the area, but a SLA-MM commander there, Abdalla Mohamedin, told SLA-Unity to leave the area. GoS soon learned of SLA-Unity's presence and subsequently attacked, and according to this SLM-MM source the GoS was "severely defeated." ¶6. (SBU) UNAMID's unofficial description of the fighting aligns more closely with official GoS figures. According to the J3 sector commander in the morning briefing on June 11, SLM-Unity killed 14 SAF troops, including a colonel, wounded 35 others, and took 19 APCs in the fighting [NOTE: The Ceasefire Commission later told FieldOff no/no APCs had been taken in the fighting -a report that appears more plausible- but the CFC has yet to conduct an investigation in this remote region. END NOTE]. According to these UNAMID reports quoting GoS sources, 106 SLM-Unity fighters died in the attack. These UNAMID sources also stated that GoS reportedly dispatched Antonovs to bomb areas in the region in the aftermath of the fighting. ¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: Conflicting reports are not unusual coming in the vast and isolated landscape of Darfur. The numbers of dead, wounded, and captured vehicles, in addition to the reference to APCs taken by SLM-Unity, should all be taken with a grain of salt. Although the figures are in dispute, all reports agree, at the very least, that significant fighting between SLM-Unity and SAF took place on June 8. If the SAF sustained losses even half of the SLM-Unity reports, then reprisal attacks can be expected, including aerial bombardment and Janjaweed attacks. There are also rumors of another clash between SLM-Unity and the GoS on June 9 close to the Libyan border in which SLM-Unity once again overwhelmed the SAF. If such reports are true, it would indicate a level of command and control within SLM-Unity sophisticated enough to coordinate KHARTOUM 00000882 002 OF 002 near-simultaneous attacks at a considerable distance apart. DATTA