Sudan, LJM agree to integrate some 3,000 former rebels
November 20, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government and the former rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) signed a security agreement on Wednesday providing to integrate 3,000 former rebels into the army and police forces.
The agreement ends long discussions between to two partners brokered by the UNAMID over the implementation of a security agreement signed on 16 July 2011 as provided in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) of 14 July 2011.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the head of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) and LJM leader, Tijani El-Sissi, said between 2,000 and 3,000 LJM combatants will join the regular forces stressing that the agreement represents one of the important stages in the peace implementation.
The security arrangements remained “a burden since the beginning of the (peace) negotiations but now we can say that the pain of migraine began to decrease and will go away entirely”, he added.
The final security agreement will pave the way for the former rebel group to be declared as political party. Also it will send a positive sign for the former rebel Justice and Equality Movement – Bashar which signed a peace deal with the government on 6 April 2013.
The head of the joint peacekeeping force and joint mediator Mohamed Ibn Chambas who attended the signing ceremony welcomed the move and expressed hope that these arrangements “would constitute a significant step towards the implementation of the DDPD”.
He further said that this accord will open the door for the implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of process and offers new opportunities for the former rebel fighters .
“It is this future away from war that the DDPD was intended to secure”, he said.
State minister and chairperson of DDPD implementation office, Amin Hassan Omer, underlined that those who will not join the regular forces will be absorbed in other jobs.
He also underlined that the DRA will receive next year $300 million to implement development projects, besides other projects implemented by Qatar and the European Union.
(ST)