JEM-Dabajo calls for international intervention to release its prisoners
April 20, 2016 (EL-FASHER) – The former rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) faction led by Bakheit Abdallah Dabajo (JEM-Dabajo) has renewed call for the international community to intervene to secure the release of its members being held captive by mainstream JEM inside South Sudanese territory.
Following that, JEM killed the leader of JEM-Bashar, Mohamed Bashar, and his deputy Suleiman Arko, and detained more than 20 others in an attack near the Chadian border while they were returning to Khartoum.
JEM-Dabajo leading figure Al-Sadiq Youssef Zakaria told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that the Sudanese government and the regional and international community are turning a deaf ear to their repeated calls for the release of the prisoners who spent more than three years in captivity.
“The hostages were subjected to various forms of torture and the available information underscores that they have fallen ill due to torture and lack of food,” he said.
Zakaria called on the international community to play its humanitarian role by securing the release of the prisoners, urging the African Union to convince the mainstream JEM and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Minni Minnawi to join the peace process and release the hostages.
He pointed that the 11 remaining prisoners include Ibrahim Musa Zariba, Ali Wafi, Bishara Gamal al-Din, Mohamed Ali Mohamadain, Yassin Abdalla Zakaria, Adil Mahgoub Hussein, Mohamed Abakar Idris, Salah Hamid al-Wali, Issa Mohamed al-Hassan, Ali Abdel-Rahman Bishara, al-Tayeb Khamis and Ali al-Hilo.
Zakaria further wondered how Gibril Ibrahim, the leader of JEM mainstream, detains his movement’s members for choosing to join the peace and dialogue while he himself seeks to join the process.
In May 2014, JEM-Dabajo said it sent the hostage case to the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) sanctions committee and met with diplomats at the United Kingdom’s embassy in Khartoum to urge them to pressure leaders of JEM, saying London harbours some of those leaders and provide them with protection.
(ST)