Sudan’s ruling NCP describes Bin Laden as a "holy fighter"
* Article
* Comments (31)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
May 2, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The West should withdraw its forces from
Afghanistan after the United States announced that it has killed
Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, an official in the ruling National
Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan said today.
JPEG - 31.3 kb
Osama bin Laden addresses a news conference in Afghanistan in this May
26, 1998 file photograph (reuters)
Bin Laden was shot in the head by U.S. forces who stormed his luxury
compound in Pakistan after a decade-long manhunt during which he
continually evaded capture.
"Twenty nations from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
gathered to kill the Afghan people in the context of an unfair
campaign by the West ....in its search for bin Laden or capture him as
a leader for terrorism," the parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir
was quoted by state media.
"If they are so thrilled with his death then they should lift their
hands off Afghanistan and let Afghans run their own affairs," Al-Tahir
added.
The speaker of the NCP dominated national assembly described Bin Laden
as a Mujahid (holy fighter) during the parliamentary session and was
interrupted by MP’s who chanted "Martyr, Martyr".
He described the U.S. war on terror as "genocide against Muslims".
Bin Laden lived in Sudan for five years, arriving in 1991 after
falling out with Saudi Arabia’s ruling family over the kingdom’s
participation in the U.S.-led campaign to end Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait.
He left in 1996 after the government of Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir faced pressure by the US and Saudi Arabia to expel him. Bin
Laden himself is reportedly bitter at Khartoum saying that they had
borrowed $300 million from him but declined to pay it back as he was
leaving.
There was no official comment from the Sudanese government on the news
of Bin Laden’s demise. Sudan is walking a fine line on the issue as it
seeks to be lifted from the U.S. list of countries that sponsor
terrorism as early as July.
Washington says that Khartoum must meet all criteria spelled out in
U.S. law including not supporting international terrorism for the
preceding six months and providing assurance it will not support such
acts in the future
But the Islamist based government in Sudan may not want to welcome Bin
Laden’s death and alienate its base which largely sympathizes with the
late Al-Qaeda leader even if it does not agree with some of the
actions he has taken including the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers.
Sudan and the U.S. has maintained close counterterrorism cooperation
over the last decade including the targeting Al-Qaeda operatives in
Somalia.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
