JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim has been staying in Libya since May when authorities in neighboring Chad stopped him at their capital’s airport and said he could not pass through their territory to return to the battlefield in Darfur.
Ibrahim has since given a number of interviews from Libya, repeating his movement’s threats to attack Sudanese cities, including Khartoum, and deriding ongoing peace talks between Sudan’s government and other rebel groups.
“We are asking Libya to expel him,” said Sudan foreign ministry spokesman Moawia Osman. “We don’t want him to make aggressive statements out of a sisterly country like Libya.”
Osman said Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had spoken to Sudanese President Omar Bashir by phone and promised to limit Ibrahim’s communications and movements.
An expulsion could leave the JEM leader in a difficult position — Chad, which borders Sudan and Libya, has already refused to take him and an Egyptian refuge would anger Khartoum.
The Sudanese Media Center, a news website with links to Sudan’s government, late on Saturday quoted the head of Sudan’s national security service Muhammad Atta Al-Mawla Abbas saying Libya was preparing to expel Ibrahim.
Osman said he could not comment on the report. JEM was one of two Darfur rebel groups that revolted in 2003 demanding more autonomy for the arid western region.
Sudan’s government responded with a counter-insurgency campaign that Washington and some activists call genocide. Khartoum dismisses the accusation.
JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam said the report of an imminent expulsion was “rubbish and nonsense.”
“Khalil is in Libya. They are treating him with great respect and dignity,” he said. Adam also dismissed reports Libya was limiting Ibrahim’s communications but said the JEM leader was not available for an interview.
JEM and Sudan’s army clashed last week in the Uzban area in eastern Darfur, both sides reported, both claiming victory. Violence has spiked since JEM suspended participation in troubled peace talks in the Qatari capital Doha in early May.
