Sudan to shut border with Libya

Sudan's interior ministry said on Monday that the country will close its border crossings with Libya on Thursday, to tighten security in response to "banditry." The decision comes amid growing tensions with Libya, which is harbouring a rebel leader wanted by Khartoum.

RFI

Libya's border with Sudan passes through the troubled Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in a war that began in 2003.

Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the region's Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), has been residing in Tripoli for the past several months, despite repeated requests on the part of the Sudanese government to have him repatriated.

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Interview: Faoud Hikmat, International Crisis Group special advisor on Sudan

RFI

Faoud Hikmat, special advisor on Sudan with the International Crisis Group, suggested the government could be stepping up efforts to isolate Ibrahim from the movement.

"They don't want Khalil to have access to his troops, because they think his troops are decentralised now," he said in an interview with RFI.

"They think they could have the upper hand by neutralising the military forces, and therefore they don't want Khalil to enter Darfur."

Sudanese interior minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid said issued the order with the "aim or reorganising" police along the border.

Passage on a highway near the border "has become subjected to threats and attacks from the rebels and outlaws who commit robberies and extortion," said a statement issued on the ministry's website.

The head of Sudanese intelligence, Mohammed al-Atta, was reported to have said on the weekend that Ibrahim's extradition was "imminent."

JEM denies the suggestion.

"Ibrahim is in Libya and will remain there until he completes talks over the future of Darfur and Sudan" with Kadhafi, Jem spokesperson Ahmed Hussein Adam said.

"And even if Sudan said it would close its border with Libya, it doesn't have enough soldiers to do so," he added.