Darfur rebel SLA call unity meeting to mend splits

Oct 17, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Field commanders from Darfur’s main rebel group, dogged by splits that are hampering peace efforts, said on Monday they have called a unity meeting to resolve differences within the ranks.

SLM rebels hold a meeting in Southern Darfur. (Reuters).

Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the Sudan Liberation Army’s (SLA) conference organising committee, said all SLA leaders had been invited to the Oct. 25 conference. But some on the ground were doubtful all the leadership would attend.

“All our members and leaders from all over the world have been invited for the conference,” he told Reuters from Darfur.

Ibrahim declined to say where the conference would be held for security reasons, but sources said it was likely to be in South Darfur state.

African Union-mediated peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja have faltered because of splits in the rebel ranks and renewed fighting on the ground, despite a ceasefire signed in April last year.

Ibrahim said the conference would decide a joint policy going forward for the movement.

SLA President Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur has differed with Secretary-General Minni Arcua Minnawi on key issues, including mediation and control of ground troops.

Minnawi in Darfur has command of the military side of the movement while Nur has been more of a political leader acting outside the region. The two have rarely presented a united front and some field commanders said this had to change.

SLA member Abdallah Idriss in South Darfur said: “We haven’t seen our president for two years. We want to see him, to talk to him,” he told Reuters.

Minnawi is in Darfur and Nur is in Abuja at the talks.

“We don’t have any administration for our forces and Abdel Wahed says things we don’t like and we want to know why,” said one commander in Darfur. “Abdel Wahed is saying he won’t come because only he can organise a conference,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

Ibrahim played down the differences in the leadership: “We hope that they will all come – they all have invites,” he said.

Non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglect and of monopolising power and wealth. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million forced from their homes during the fighting.

The International Criminal Court is investigating suspected war crimes committed during the revolt.

Top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, said he would welcome the conference to help unite the rebels.

Ibrahim said observers from the U.N., the AU, neighbouring Chad, Egypt and Libya, and the United States and Europe had been invited.

(Reuters)