New Darfur rebel group merges with JEM

October 3, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A newly established Darfur rebel group has announced its merger with the mainstream rebels Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), urging “forces of change” in Sudan to unite behind the goal of overthrowing the government.

Mahgoub Hussein, who was a prominent member of the former Darfur rebels Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), on Monday announced that his new movement, the Sudanese Bloc to Liberate the Republic (SBLR), agreed to join ranks with JEM which is led by Khalil Ibrahim.

Hussein was sacked from LJM in October last year on accusations of plotting to split the group which signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government on 14 July this year to end the eight-year strife in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

In a joint statement seen by Sudan Tribune, JEM and SBLR said that the latter had decided to fully integrate into JEM under a number of objectives including joint work with opposition and democratic forces in the country to topple the central government in Khartoum.

The statement said that after intensive discussions, the two groups concluded that the central government in Khartoum was “frail and lacking in legitimacy”

The two groups also said that the “Framework Document for the Resolution of the armed conflict in western Sudan”, on the basis of which the government and LJM signed their peace deal in the Qatari capital of Doha, could have been a good base for detailed negotiations to produce an applicable equation to addresses grievances of war in the region.

However, it added that the document in its current form only serves to confer a false legitimacy on the government to forcibly dismantle displacement camps and allay international pressure on Khartoum.

The statement also said that the now one group would work to place the issue of the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court for Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir among the national agendas of the Sudanese forces.

Darfur rebel groups have earned infamy for their constant splitting and failure to unite behind clear-cut agendas.

Analysts see little chance of success for the Doha peace agreement in ending the conflict due to the fact that LJM is of little military significance and other groups, mainly JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdul Wahid Nur remain defiant to talks with the government.

(ST)