Two JEM delegates beaten for objecting SLA /JEM alliance
Feb 1, 2006 (ABUJA) — Three members of a rebel movement from Sudan’s Darfur region have beaten up two fellow rebel delegates at peace talks in Nigeria, in what mediators called a “barbaric” attack that aggravated ethnic tensions.
The attackers and their victims were delegates of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of two rebel groups talking with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja in an attempt to end three years of bloodshed in Darfur.
“The flames of ethnic hatred that have been stoked by this unfortunate incident can only have a negative impact on the entire peace architecture being painstakingly constructed in Abuja,” the African Union (AU) said on Wednesday. It warned there could also be an impact on the situation in Darfur.
The AU, which is mediating in the peace talks and has about 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, said it was “deeply appalled by this brutal attack”. It expelled the three attackers from the talks and said it would fly them to Darfur.
The incident took place on Saturday, when three JEM members entered the hotel room of a man and a woman from the same group and severely beat them. The couple ended up in hospital, though they have now been discharged and are back in the hotel.
The dispute stemmed from complex ethnic rivalries and shifting alliances within rebel ranks that have hampered efforts to end the conflict.
The JEM and the larger Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) took up arms in early 2003 over what they describe as marginalisation by Khartoum. The government backed proxy militias to fight the rebels, and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than two million from their homes.
The three main areas under negotiation in Abuja are power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements. Progress is slow, though the AU hopes the current round, the seventh, can reach agreement this month.
The couple who were attacked at the talks, both ethnic Arabs, had objected to an alliance announced by the JEM leadership on Jan. 20 with one of the factions of the SLA, led by Minni Arcua Minnawi.
Minni and JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim are both from the Zaghawa ethnic group, and the Arab couple alleged that the new alliance was ethnically motivated. They said they would quit the JEM in protest and instead join a rival faction of the SLA, led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur.
Nur belongs to the Fur who are the largest non-Arab tribe in Darfur. A longstanding rivalry between Nur and Minni, who both claim to be leader of the SLA, has been one of the stumbling blocks in the Abuja peace process.
The JEM chief negotiator in Abuja declined to comment on the incident, while SLA leaders could not immediately be reached.
(Reuters)
Read AU mediators press release on the assault: http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=13851