2008 Attack On Omdurman and Khartoum

2008 Attack On Omdurman And Khartoum

In May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri ethnic minority rebel group, undertook a raid against the Sudanese government in the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum.

From the government's viewpoint, the attack took place on a single day, May 10, 2008, while JEM has countered the government's account with reports of heavy fighting in parts of the Khartoum metropolitan area into May 11. More than 220 people were reported to be killed in the raid and while scores were later sentenced to death.

It was the first time that the War in Darfur, previously confined to western Sudan, reached the country's capital. Overall, the war claimed the lives of up to 300,000 people, with 2.5 million more made homeless since 2003 (the United States has labeled the conflict in Darfur as genocide, a charge the Sudanese government has rejected). Despite decades of warfare in Southern Sudan, Khartoum had not experienced any street fighting since 1976.