Sudan raised the spectre of war with neighbouring Chad yesterday, accusing it of backing Darfuri rebels who launched a daring assault on its capital, Khartoum.

Hundreds of fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) also attacked Omdurman, which lies across the Nile from the capital, on Saturday. Sudanese forces responded with artillery and helicopter gunships as fighting raged throughout the weekend. It was the first time that the conflict in Darfur had reached the gates of the capital.

UN sources and analysts in Khartoum said that Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the JEM, wanted to show his strength rather than launch a serious attempt to topple the Government. But the attack brings closer the prospect of the region’s proxy war becoming a full-blown conflict.

About 200 vehicles mounted with heavy machineguns made the four-day journey from their strongholds in the Jebel Moon region of West Darfur. They crossed into the north of the region and then into Northern Kordofan, using areas controlled by sympathetic tribes.

The fighters picked up reinforcements along the way before approaching Khartoum from the west via its historic neighbour, Omdurman. The city is well defended with machinegun emplacements on all of its main arterial routes, but JEM commanders claimed to have captured much of the city before withdrawing.

Richard Cornwell, an analyst with the Institute for Security Studies, said that the attack undermined the Government’s image as an all-powerful military force: “This is the first time anyone has managed to take civil war to the doorstep of the Government, so it’s a propaganda victory of sorts.”

Yesterday President Bashir of Sudan announced that he was severing relations with Chad. “These forces are basically Chadian forces supported by Chad and they moved from Chad under the leadership of Khalil Ibrahim,” he said in a televised address – adding that he reserved the right to retaliate against the “outlaw regime”.

Smoke billowed above Omdurman’s empty streets as state television broadcast pictures of what the Government claimed to be captured rebel vehicles. A British resident in Khartoum said that the streets were calm although helicopter gunships continued to buzz back and forth across the city.

On Saturday, he said, he had been able to hear government artillery from his balcony. “People here are very frightened. There has never been an attack on Khartoum and people thought the war was a long way away.” An estimated 300,000 people have died in Darfur’s five-year conflict. Peace talks held in Libya last year have stalled, although Gordon Brown has offered to host a fresh round of negotiations.

Chad and Sudan accuse each other of supporting rival rebel movements to destabilise their regimes. Although JEM fighters deny support from Chad, their ties to President Déby – who is from the same Zaghawa tribe as the JEM leader – are well known. In February, JEM forces travelled from Darfur to Chad to protect Mr Déby from rebels pouring into the capital, Ndjamena.

Chadian rebels are a common sight on the Sudanese side of the border, buying supplies in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina. Last month The Times saw rebels from Chad speaking French – a giveaway in Darfur – and driving freely through the town’s market in their roofless pickup trucks.

Soldiers with the UN’s hybrid force in El Geneina blame the presence of Chadian rebels for insecurity in the camps around the town, where they steal food and abduct women.“We have Chadians here and if you visit the towns across the border you’d think it was JEM headquarters,” a UN officer said. Fighting has been heaviest along the border in an area known as the Northern Corridor, where Sudanese forces took back towns held by the JEM while its fighters were away defending the Chadian Government. A nonaggression pact signed in March has proved ineffective as the two sides accuse each other of failing to prevent rebel groups from launching incursions.

Amjad Atallah, of the Save Darfur Coalition, said the weekend’s assault was the latest in the tit-for-tat war: “It seems that at least in part this is pay-back for Sudan’s support for rebels in Chad who almost toppled the Government there in February,” he said. With the rainy season beginning in Darfur, it was a last chance for the JEM to strengthen its hand for the next few months.

Literary uprising

— The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is led by Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad, who wrote The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in the Sudan about the disproportionate numbers of Arabs in powerful positions

— JEM’s forces are believed to consist of up to 3,000 fighters

— It was founded by Muslims from Darfur after Hassan al-Turabi, head of the National Islamic Front and former supporter of President Omar al-Bashir, was ejected from government

— Sudan has offered a reward of $125,000 (£64,000) for Mr Ibrahim’s capture and information that leads to his arrest

— A faction led by Idris Azraq broke away in January 2007 when he fell out with Mr Khalil over the marginalisation of nonKobe Zaghawa (Khalil’s clan) within JEM

— JEM is reputed to have fragmented into several disparate groups, of which the most significant is the National Movement for Reform and Development, which broke away from JEM in 2004 and is said to have the backing of Chad

Source: Global Security, Times archives

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