Commander Abdelaziz al-Hilu has not been killed in recent fighting in South Kordofan, according to his spokesman and an interview he since made with Sudan Tribune website.

The Sudanese Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman had claimed on Monday that al-Hilu was likely killed by a rocket that targeted a convoy of six vehicles during the rebel strikes in South and North Kordofan over the weekend.

Sudanese media yesterday including the national television were reporting the killing of the rebel commander, without clear evidence of the date or place of his death.

“I am alive. Nothing has happened to me,” said Al-Hilu, the deputy chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (North) and chief of staff of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, in an interview with Sudan Tribune yesterday.

The spokesman of SPLM-N told Radio Tamazuj that what was reported in the Sudanese media on the death of Commander Abdel-Aziz was just a rumour to which the regime resorted after the defeats of the National Congress Party forces in the recent operations in Kordofan.

“That was a kind of false rumour in order to baffle the Sudanese public opinion because citizens lost hope in the National Congress Party and due to great victories that the SRF forces achieved in Kordofan in the last few days on the 27^th. So things ran out of their control until they have released false information... Their credibility is finished so they have resorted to a media war,” Arnu said.  

Direct peace talks between SPLM-N and the Sudan government took place last week but have since been suspended. Fierce clashes were witnessed in the regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Photo: Abdelaziz al-Hilu (center) with South African mediator and former president Thabo Mbeki (right) (thabombekifoundation.org.za)