Darfur rebel NRF says constituting the main group in Darfur

August 20, 2006 — Reports after reports on Darfur still cling to the misconception that the forces making up the National Redemption Front (NRF) constitute a minority in Darfur while forces of Minni Minnawi, the newly appointed Senior Assistant to President Albashir enjoy a dominant position in the Region.

The international community must desist from this self evident deception and address reality as it exists on the ground. The fallacy of dominance of Minni’s branch of the SLM is so clear cut that it is laughable to conceive that eminent members of the international community can still regurgitate this fallacy at every venue. The danger of such an approach is futile if not outright lethal for the people of Darfur. It justifies a support for an agreement that is described by nobody other than Mr. Jan Pronk, the UN Special Representative for Sudan, as “paralysed”, “does not resonate with Darfur People” and requires “major rewriting”. Mr. Pronk must come clean and follows his revelation to its logical conclusion.

Moreover, insistence that Minnawi’s SLM is the biggest Movement in Darfur encourages others, particularly the NRF to prove it otherwise. As an invitation to war, it cannot be more explicit.

International leaders must be honest with themselves and stop deceiving the world. Minnawi’s SLM is not the biggest Movement in Darfur and never had been. Various attempts to make it so by the GoS, its Janjaweed and the African Union, could not shift this simple basic truth. It is time that we face reality, admit mistakes and proceed to rewrite the DPA.

Dr. Abdullahi Osman El-Tom for JEM/NRF

20 August 2006