JEM leader Dabajo returns to Khartoum
November 13, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The leader of the former rebel Justice and Liberation Movement – Bashar (JEM-Bashar) Bakheit Abdallah Abdel-Karim (Dabajo) returned Wednesday to the Sudanese capital, launching the implementation of a peace agreement they sealed last April with the government in Doha.
Speaking at the airport following his arival, Dabajo reiterated their commitment to the peace deal signed on 6 April 2013 with the Sudanese government and stressed they return to the country “with an open heart” .
Dabajo said his movement will work hard to achieve peace in Darfur along with the government.
He added that the government will release soon the prisoners of his group, pointing out they will keep their efforts, in cooperation with the government and the international community, to release their leading members arrested by JEM led by Gibril Ibrahim last May.
He also expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the state of Qatar, which dispatched a special representative to participate in his reception in Khartoum, and Chad for their efforts to achieve peace in Darfur region.
Dabajo, who led the split from JEM in September 2012, remained the general commander of the breakaway group till May 2013 when the faction’s leader Mohamed Bashar was killed near the Chadian border in clashes with their former comrades.
He was also a former commander of the current rebel leader Minni Minnawi who signed a peace agreement with the government in Abuja in May 2006 before to denounce it in 2011 and rejoin the rebellion.
The former rebel leader reportedly had personally took part in the pursuit operations launched by the Sudanese army following the death of their leader Bashar against the rebels.
The president Omer Al-Bashir on the other hand received the Chadian presidential adviser for security at his office. The Sudanese presidency said his delivered a verbal message from the president Idris Deby.
The latter was criticised by Darfur rebel groups for his strong involvement besides the Sudanese government in Darfur. The Sudanese rebels say more Chadian troops have been dispatched to the region as the government said preparing to attack their positions.
Speaking in a reception party organised in Omdurman to celebrate the return of the former rebels, the state minister Amin Hassan Omer reiterated that his government is committed to implement the agreement signed with the JEM Bashar.
He also called on the non-signatory rebel groups to join the peace process saying his government will keep to show patience for the sake of peace in Darfur.
Darfur rebel groups and the SPLM-N reject to engage separate negotiations for peace Darfur region or Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, demanding a comprehensive process for peace in the whole Sudan .
(ST)