Sudan’s spy chief visited Libya: report
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August 25, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The head of Sudan’s intelligence
apparatus Mohamed Atta on Wednesday paid a one-day visit to Libya
where he held talks with leaders of the National Transitional Council
(NTC), according to a local newspaper.
JPEG - 11.9 kb
NISS director-general Mohamed Atta (SMC)
Sudan on Wednesday welcomed the “impressive” advance of Libyan rebels
on the capital Tripoli as their six-month struggle to topple the
regime of the embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi seemed to be on the
verge of success.
Khartoum later clarified that this statement serves also as a
recognition of NTC as representative of the Libyan people.
The Sudanese pro-government newspaper Al-Intibaha reported that Atta,
the director of the country’s National Intelligence and Security
Services (NISS), concluded a short visit to Libyan city pf Benghazi
where he held talks with the NTC leaders.
An anonymous source told the paper that Atta gave the NTC chairman a
written letter from President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir congratulating
them on the success of the Libyan revolution. According to the same
source, the NTC head thanked the government of Sudan for its support
to the revolution since it started.
It is expected that Sudan asked for NTC’s help in nabbing the leader
of Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim who has
been staying in Libya since 2009.
JEM is one of several Darfur rebel groups that is fighting the central
government in Khartoum.
Ibrahim has been in Libya since May 2009 when the Chadian authorities
refused entry of the rebel leader to Ndjamena on his way back to
Darfur, ordering him to return to Tripoli from where he attempted to
come to Chad.
The Sudanese government tried several times to negotiate the presence
of Ibrahim with Libyan officials but the latter refused to move him to
another country as Khartoum requested. At the same time he was
confined at a military garrison and had restricted contacts.
JEM called on NTC and NATO to secure a safe departure of its leader from Libya.
The Sudanese government has been discreetly supportive of the armed
rebellion in Libya which aims to unseat Gaddafi who has been in power
for over 41 years.
Last March diplomats told Reuters that Khartoum quietly gave
permission to NATO to use its airspace for enforcing the UN-mandated
No Fly Zone (NFZ) over Libya.
In June this year, NISS chief Atta secretly visited France and
reportedly supplied nuggets of information to the French intelligence
on forces loyal to Gaddafi in Libya. Sudan later confirmed the visit
but denied that Atta discussed any regional issues.
In a related development, the NTC on Thursday said it had now moved
its political base from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to Tripoli
which is now largely in rebels’ control.
(ST)
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