Al-Atta confirmed that Sudan is open in its relations with Iran (Anatolia)
Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, revealed important developments in the field, and said that the Sudanese Army is advancing in all axes of operations “with the aim of liberating both Khartoum and Wad Madani before moving to Kordofan and Darfur to eliminate the Rapid Support Forces and impose security and stability in the country.”
Al-Atta spoke in an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera Net about the course of the military operations he is leading in Omdurman and Khartoum, and stressed, “We are in the final stage of the journey to eliminate the Rapid Support Forces and their collapse has become imminent,” indicating that the government has material reasons proving the involvement of several countries in supporting... Rapid Support Forces with weapons and military supplies.
He accused several countries in the region of participating in killing the Sudanese people, shedding their blood, plundering their wealth of gold, plundering their homes, and displacing their people internally and externally by supporting what he described as rapid support with lethal weapons, providing their needs, and opening bridges to supply supplies and fighters.
Al-Atta also indicated in his interview that his country is open in its relations with Iran and many other countries, and that interests alone govern Sudan’s relationship with others. He added that his country is looking forward to relations with important countries on the African continent such as Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa.
The following is the text of the interview:
Mr. Lieutenant General Yasser, since you are now leading the military operations in Khartoum, and nine months after the outbreak of fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, the military fronts still have not achieved progress, which makes betting on a military solution impossible?
First, we are now in the final stage of operations to eliminate these criminal militias, and our forces in the main fighting axes in Bahri, Omdurman, and Khartoum have achieved great progress on the ground. The day before yesterday, Tuesday, our forces took control of the most important areas of the city of Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman, and I look before me at the collapse of the militias and the liberation of Khartoum has become the judiciary. On the Rapid Support Forces, we have drawn up a plan that has begun to be implemented on the ground to liberate the city of Wad Medani and the state of Al-Jazira, and to move west to liberate the states of Darfur and regain any area lost during the past period.
I am speaking from the military field and have nothing to do with other issues. I assure you that a decisive victory is now beginning to emerge from the daily reality of those who fight the war.
The Sudanese government still holds other countries responsible for the worsening military losses on the fighting fronts without providing evidence of this?
There are countries involved in the war against the Sudanese people, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for submitting complaints to the United Nations, the Arab League, and the African Union, and we have conclusive evidence in our hands and our devices have prepared everything that supports the complaint and informs the Sudanese people of where the weapons with which they are killed come from and the blood that is shed every day by these countries, and we will not accept it. These countries will be part of any mediation because we consider these countries to be parties to the war against the Sudanese people.
Did Sudan restore its relations with Iran under a sense of disappointment?
We are a free country and our foreign relations are governed by interests, not by axes. We are open to cooperation with Iran, Algeria, Egypt, Russia and America. Why do we not establish relations with sister countries like Iran, or Algeria, which is one of the most important Arab and African countries and which President Burhan recently visited? We adopt a foreign policy governed by interests. No. Ideology
The government opened the doors of popular resistance, but Islamists entered through those doors?
And what about the Islamists? We consider them, along with others, to be citizens defending their homeland, which is being attacked by cross-border militias. They are citizens who have the full right to defend their country, and no citizen is excluded in the current battle to defend existence.
But the Islamists are now operating under independent military banners such as the Al-Baraa Battalion?
I met with young Islamists and told them that we, as a state and an army, do not know the Al-Baraa Battalion or anything else. We know you as citizens who defend your country and your honor under the leadership of the army. They told us: We do not want power, prestige, or money from you. We want to liberate our country, and now they are fighting with their country’s army.
And there are those who are not Islamists.. “Angry” groups came and they are the makers of the revolution, and I admire it. They said that they want to fight with the army, and I told them, I do not know, Angry, I know you, the youth of the future of Sudan. Angry people fought with the forces and presented martyrs like them and the Islamists. We, as armed forces, recognize all the people’s affiliations as parties, but as fighters with us in defense of their land, they are citizens. Yesterday, the Supreme Committee for Popular Resistance was announced in Khartoum State to mobilize the will to fight and arm the people to defend themselves, and in this committee there are communists, resistance committees, and Islamists. And federalists...defending the homeland does not require a party banner
There is now talk about the imminent formation of a new government in Sudan?
The formation of the new government depends on the course of military operations on the ground. In the event of significant progress, which is expected, with the liberation of Khartoum and the island, a new formation will be announced.
What is the relationship of military operations to the formation of the new government?
The relationship is in the tasks and powers of the government after the war and during the war. Therefore, now the estimates of the President of the Sovereignty Council may require relieving one person and appointing another, but after the liberation of the country from the rebellion, we need a reconstruction government because the extent of the destruction that befell the country is very great.
The SPLM fought alongside the army in the Nuba Mountains region, as well as in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Mohamed Nour. Was there an agreement between you and these movements to work together in confronting the Rapid Support Forces?
I did not hear from Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu (the leader of the Popular Movement) a supportive position for the army in the Nuba Mountains, but the Nuba people in the Popular Movement, especially in Dilling, took a national stance after they felt that the militia was targeting Dilling as a city and Nuba as a people, so the Popular Movement rose to defend the Nuba Mountains, land and people, and this This is what was expected of them, so it was the Dilling epic in which the Nuba people used the action rifle with the army rifle to eliminate the militia that attacked the Dilling and assaulted its people, but the Nuba are a people who cannot be defeated by the militias.
Does this mean the emergence of formations fighting with the army on tribal grounds?
That is not true. All societies stood with the Sudanese army. Salute to our people from the Fur tribes, led by the hero Jarkula, who stood with his Fur people and is now fighting against the militia. Appreciation goes to Sheikh Musa Hilal, the leader of the Mahamid tribe, who also stood against the militias that do not represent the people of Darfur or the Arabs of Darfur, but rather represent a sector. Roads and looters.
Have there been understandings between South Sudanese figures belonging to the Abyei region and Hemedti regarding that disputed, oil-rich region?
In what capacity does Hemedti speak and grant Abyei to some of the Ngok Dinka people? This is just “a woman and a woman in Nairobi’s luxury hotels.” We will never neglect the rights of the Misseriya tribes in Abyei, and we will not allow shopping from that region and bargaining with the land of the Misseriya and Sudan. We are linked to South Sudan by a protocol to address the Abyei issue, and we will implement the protocol and preserve the rights of our people.
Did negotiations take place with the Rapid Support secretly in Manama?
I am busy with operations on the ground to liberate cities, and when the rebel militia implements what it signed in Jeddah, I can sit with it until after the implementation of the Jeddah Agreement.
Source: Al Jazeera