Sudan wants Darfur rebel JEM to join peace deal – official
May 7, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese ruling party appeared totally disinterested by the signing of Darfur rebel faction of Abdelwahed al-Nur and looking forward to Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)of Khalil Ibrahim to join the deal.
Deputy Chairman of the National Congress for Political and Organization Affairs, Nafei Ali Nafei told reporters yesterday that his party would make efforts to convince the rebel JEM of Khalil Ibrahim to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement.
The African Union mediators gave the rebels groups who rejected the agreement a delay of reflexion up to 15 May.
Actually, a splinter group of the SLM Abdelwahed faction leaded by Abdelrahman Musa Abakr has also signed the peace agreement on Friday 5 May. Abakr, who is the SLM top negotiators, in a press statement issued Saturday 7 May in Abuja criticised Abdelwahed “dictatorial leadership”. He further said that Darfur Peace Agreement constitutes a base for the realization of peace, settlement and development of the region in the future.
The government of Sudan and the main Darfur rebel SLM faction of Minni Minawi signed a peace agreement on Friday to end three years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced two million to flee their homes.
It seems that the National Congress plans to convince the Fur tribe — of Abdelwahid al-Nur — traditional leaders and marginalise Abdelwahed in the next stage.
According to AU brokered agreement a”Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Reconciliation” will be held within 60 days, “at which representatives of every group in the region can meet to begin the process of stitching the social fabric back together again, addressing problems such as land ownership and nomadic migration”.
Nonetheless, analysts think that the rebel JEM has a national agenda, and closely linked to Hassan al-Turabi. All these factors explain the inflexible position of this movement.
The leader of JEM Khalil Ibrahim, a former member of the National Islamic Front, is suspected of being the instrument of Islamist Hassan al-Tuarbi in his power straggle against his ex-disciple Omar al-Bashir. The government last year accused JEM of playing a central role, along with leaders of Turabi’s Popular Congress party, in an alleged plot to overthrow al-Bashir.
(ST)