Bashir: Sudan armed rebels in Libya

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said his country provided substantial military support to the rebels who overthrew former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The Sudan Tribune said Bashir's comments came during a rally Wednesday in which he said Libya under Gadhafi had played a big role in destabilizing Sudan by supporting rebel groups in the western region of Darfur and the former southern rebels who now rule the newly independent South Sudan.

"Our weapons reached the revolutionaries in Misurata, al-Jabal al-Gharbi and Zawiya" Bashir said. "The forces that liberated the (Libyan capital) Tripoli were armed 100 percent by Sudan."

Bashir said the Gadhafi regime also had supported the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement, which the president said "made it all the way to Khartoum with Libyan weapons, vehicles and funds."

Speaking of Gadhafi's death last week, Bashir said, "God took care of many of the tools of conspiracy against Sudan."

Sudan's military support for the Libyan rebels had been kept secret until the rebels appeared to be close to victory, when Sudanese officials revealed the support, the Tribune said.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of Libya's National Transitional Council, had said in August Khartoum's support helped "liberate some cities" in Libya.

Bashir has been accused of war crimes and genocide in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.