Britain urges SLM al-Nur to join Darfur peace deal
June 1, 2006 (LONDON) — Official British source has urged the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by Abdelwahid al-Nur which refused to sign the peace agreement in Darfur to sign the accord.
The spokesperson for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office told the satellite Al-Arabiya TV that this faction is mistaken if it believes that it is capable of gaining concessions through this attitude, and that the international community does not understand the reasons behind this attitude.
The Darfur rebel groups — SLM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) — had refused to sign the peace agreement which would bring to an end the three-year conflict in western Sudan.
The rejection of the agreement by the two groups will pave the way for international sanctions against the two rebel groups, who were also threatened with sanctions by the African Union (AU).
The spokesperson for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Barry Marston told Al-Arabiya TV that Abdelwahid al-Nur is wrong if he believes that there is a better deal waiting for him. He has a golden opportunity to lead the population of Darfur towards this future. The international community will not be sympathetic if he does not seize this opportunity.
Marston indicated there were intensive talks to convince these two factions to sign this agreement, in the past weeks. We believe that this agreement is very important and it is in the interest of the people of Darfur to adhere to it.
“This agreement guarantees the Darfur population a real representation in the Sudanese government and institutions. It guarantees them compensation and aid from the central government. It guarantees them the disarmament of the militias and of the Janjawid and it guarantees them other things. We believe that the time has come for all parties to join ranks in order to help the people of Darfur who suffered enormously in recent years” he further said.
Marston said that Britain is the second biggest donor state as far as Sudan is concerned. For instance, in the last three years we donated more than 100m pounds as a humanitarian aid to this region.
(ST)