Darfur rebel leader rejects participation in Juba conference
June 10, 2007 (LONDON) — Darfur rebel leader said he will skip on a conference organized by the Sudanese First Vice President in Juba to find common ground between the different holdout groups before peace talks.
The first vice president and president of Southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir Mayadrit, launched an initiative in coordination with the African Union and the United Nations to organize a meeting for the holdout rebels in Juba. The purpose is to adopt a joint position paper before talks with Khartoum.
Al-Nur further said that SPLM, as a partner in the government of national unity, has to pressurize the National Congress Party to stop the attacks against Darfur civilians and to voice loudly its support for the legitimate rights of Darfur people.
He also regretted that some of the SPLM officials are now “propagating false and fabricated lies of Khartoum.” He further said “it should be a frustrating situation” for the southern Sudan people and the SPLM members to see that their so called representatives in the government of the national unity becoming de facto NCP ministers and ambassadors.
The foreign minister, Lam Akol, who represents the SPLM in the federal government, said divisions among the rebel groups represented the main obstacle facing the achievement of peace in Darfur. He pointed out that there are 19 armed factions which made it difficult to negotiate with them. On the other hand, the SPLM designated Ambassador John Ukec Lueth, provoked a controversy when he told a press conference last month that Darfur rebels should be considered as “terrorists.
The Darfur rebel leader considers the SPLM is lured by the game of NCP to divert the attention from their daily crimes in Darfur and focus their discourse on the fragmentation of the rebels as they are the cause of the violence in the region.
He angrily underlined that SLM troops are observing fully the ceasefire agreement signed in 2004, however SLM positions are bombed regularly by the Sudanese army. He also said that Khartoum in spite of the ceasefire tries to surround the positions of the SLM troops and prevents them of food and water.
The rebel leader admitted that there are some people claiming they are breakaway factions but he explained that such “parasites” exist where a liberation movement is. “They are like a plant or animal that lives on or in another plant or animal and gets food from it.”
“They flourish with direct or indirect support of Khartoum, so they can not say they represent the Darfur people, he said”. Also he regretted that there are some people who trading with the suffering of Darfur people.
Al-Nur said that Sudanese or international friends of Darfur people can help by facilitating the holding of a meeting for the ground commanders of his movement and to help them to reconnect the isolated and besieged commanders with the rest of the SLM.
“There are some local commanders who are without contact with the military command of the movement and it is in the interest of peace to help their political and military leadership to reach them.”
Al-Nur, also has renewed his call to the international community to put pressure on Khartoum to stop attack against the civilians in troubled Darfur. He further said any peace talks should first be preceded by the security of issue of the security.
Last week, a splinter faction form Minni Minawi groups rejected the SPLM initiative and stopped contact with after statements by Sudanese envoy to the USA describing the Darfur rebels as “terrorist”.
(ST)