April 23, 2006 (DUBAI) — One of Darfur’s two main rebel groups rejected Al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden’s call on Muslims to fight the "crusaders" in the western Sudanese region, warning it could encourage Khartoum to step up its repression.

"We categorically reject these declarations," Justice and Equality Movement official Ahmed Hussein said, reacting to remarks made in an audiotape attributed to bin Laden and aired by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel.

Bin Laden purportely called "upon the mujahedeen (holy warriors) and their supporters in Sudan and its surroundings — including the Arabian Peninsula — to prepare to lead a prolonged war against the crusader robbers in western Sudan."

Sudan’s Darfur has been torn by more than three years of war and famine since a rebellion by movements demanding a bigger share of their region’s resources launched an uprising which was brutally repressed by Khartoum.

Some estimates put at 300,000 the number of people who have been killed in what Washington has termed a genocide.

"His words are completely disconnected from the reality in Darfur. Bin Laden is still preaching the theory of an American-Zionist conspiracy when the real problem comes from Khartoum, which is a Muslim government killing other Muslims," Hussein said.

He warned that such comments risked "encouraging the Khartoum regime to perpetuate injustice and its strategy against Darfur."

The Islamist regime of Omar al-Beshir, which sheltered Bin Laden between 1991 and 1996, has vehemently opposed plans by the United Nations to take over security from a contingent of African Union peacekeepers who have failed to quell the Darfur bloodshed.

(ST)