Darfur rebel group faces crisis

Excerpt from report by Sudanese independent newspaper Al-Ayyam by BBC Monitoring Middle East.

Aug 27, 2005 (Khartoum) — The [Darfur rebel] Sudan Liberation Movement [SLM] is splitting further and faces a new political crisis after the reconciliation committee headed by Adam Musa in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, failed to arrange a meeting between the leader of the SLM, Abd-al-Wahid Muhammad Nur, and the SLM General Secretary, Mani Arkoi Minawi.

This was due to the fact that Minawi, until yesterday morning, had not arrived in Asmara, while Abd-al-Wahid did not show up, which was seen as an attempt to avoid meeting the committee.

Talking to Al-Ayyam, the head of the committee said the absence of the SLM’s secretary and the attempt by the SLM’s leader to avoid the meeting, which was due to be held at 5pm Friday [26 August], would have a negative effect on solving the crisis. [Passage omitted]