Darfur rebel SLM leader offers olive branch to foes
Nov 8, 2005 (NAIROBI) — A leader of the divided Darfur rebel group, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) on Tuesday extended an olive branch to his foes by inviting them back in order to consolidate the movement’s position ahead of Abuja talks later this month.
Abdelwahed al-Nur who still considered himself the leader of SLM — the largest rebel in Sudan’s western Darfur region — said he will try to unite the Darfurians before the next round of negotiations scheduled for November 20 in Nigeria and appealed to international community to help find a lasting solution to the problems in Darfur.
Infighting between the newly elected SLM leader Minni Arko Minawi and its former president al-Nur, who was unseated at last week’s conference by Minawi has led to fears that the movement may split along tribal lines.
Minawi was elected president by a majority of 800 delegates ata conference in Eastern Darfur but al-Nur refused to attend the conference. Both al-Nur and Minnawi are now claiming the presidency of the group.
“What happened was not election. The election of SLM should be under democracy where people from the civil society of SLM, student groups, different SLM office members from different parts of Sudan, from outside of Sudan, are invited to come and elect the chairperson for SLA (SLM army),” al-Nur said.
Sources say Minawi’s tribe (Zagawa) and al-Nur’s tribe (Fur)have a history of conflict. Observers fear that the fighting may lead to a split within the movement, which would complicate the peace process between the rebels and the government of Sudan.
But al-Nur said his group is open to his foes. “Whenever they are convinced that they are wrong they have that right to return. We are calling on anybody as long as they are Sudanese to rejoin the SLM including them (Minawi) faction,” he said.
“Actually you know that we have a joint position with JEM (the other main rebel group named the Justice and Equality Movement) who are totally different from that faction of our people in Darfur and Sudan … for the sake of our people in Darfur and Sudan we ask them to rejoin us,” al-Nur told reporters.
Al-Nur has also said he will still head the SLM at the negotiating table when the new round of talks resume in Abuja, saying SLM is a democratic movement with common cause to liberate the Darfurians.
“We have a common cause to stop the suffering of our people, tostop the genocide. This is the main reasons why we are fighting, why we are here and why we are going to Abuja,” al-Nur said.
He called on the international community to help find solutions to the problems in Darfur.
“The international community should work very hard to stop this suffering of our people and we are high very committed with ceasefire agreement and with agreement headed by the government toprotect the international organizations which are working in Darfur and that we will not be an obstacle at all,” he added.
The African Union has been co-mediating peace talks to end the Darfur conflict, with the last session ending on October 20 in theNigerian capital, Abuja. The parleys are set to resume later this month.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003, when Darfurians rose againstthe Khartoum government. An estimated 180,000 people have died andtwo million more have been displaced during the conflict.
(Xinhua/ST)