Rebel JEM mulls joining Darfur peace deal

May 17, 2006 (LONDON) — Consultations are running among the leadership of the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement to decide whether they will ink Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed early this month between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Movement- Minawi faction.

Sources close to the JEM told Sudan Tribune that leading members engaged a discussion with their leader Khalil Ibrahim who is currently in N’djamena to persuade him to sign the AU brokered deal. “We think the Chadian president will push him to go in this direction” said a JEM member.

The sources disclosed that the rebel JEM tries to obtain some guaranties even oral before to accept the DPA.

The JEM is expected to hold consultations with the SLM of Abdelwahid al-Nur to convince him to join the DPA together.

SLM’s al-Nur refused to sign with reservations and negotiate after, as Minawi did on 5 May. Al-Nur still asking for a supplementary document, attached to the DPA, to address his demands.

In a letter addressed Sunday 14 May to the Chairperson of African Union Commission Oumar Konare, Abdelwahid al-Nur indicated three conditions to sign: first “adequate compensation for the individuals and families who have suffered losses during the conflict. The second is full involvement of SLM/A in key aspects of security arrangements including ensuring the protection of civilians as they return to their original places and the mechanisms for monitoring the disarmament of the Janjaweed. The third is the question of political representation both at the center and at the State and local levels”.

But the AU rejected these demands and gave two weeks to the holdout rebel groups to join the agreement. Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the AU commission, had warned the pan-African body may request UN sanctions against the groups if they took any action likely to undermine the Darfur peace accord.

The UN special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, underlined Wednesday 17 May — after a meeting with the second vice-president Ali Osman Taha — the necessity of working to convince the holdout groups to sign it, adding that he is working to talk with those who support those leaders along with the Fur tribe leaders in the field to convince them that the DPA is a good agreement and fulfil much of their demands.

(ST)