TEXT- Darfur SLM says AU deal “incomplete”, demands UN mediation

June 3, 2006 (NAIROBI) — In unexpected move, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid al-Nur rejected the whole African Union (AU) brokered peace deal describing it as “weak and incomplete”. Instead it asks for UN mediation.

Sudanese government and the SLM- Minawi faction signed on 5 May the Darfur Peace Agreement, to resolve the three years conflict which has left some 300,000 people dead and 2.4 million homeless.

In a press statement the SLM-Nur faction said it had knocked all the doors asking for a supplementary document addressing its three key demands to realise a “comprehensive and sustainable peace under the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA).

For the SLM-Nur, Darfur should be unified in one autonomous region that shall carry more political weight than the current existing three states maintained by the DPA. Also, they require a third vice president, from Darfur in stead of the Senior Assistant. The second SLM demand is an individual compensation to Darfur victimized people, the DPA does not contains such measure. Finally, SLM asks for guarantees that those who have been displaced by government forces and its Janjaweed militias will be safe when they return back to their homes; in this regard, there should be a clear mechanism for the militias’ disarmament with the participation of third party and rebel observers.

Splinter groups from the SLM-Nur and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) — which is refuses the deal also – were at the headquarter of the African Union in Addis Ababa last week at the end of the deadline on 31 May. These dissidents said ready to sign the DPA.

The SLM accuses the African mediators of being selective by “putting pressure on the SLM/A to sign the Proposed DPA”.

Following the text of SLM/A press release on the AU mediation

June 3, 2006 — The SLM/A has exhausted all avenues to realize peace in Darfur through the AU mediation. The latest of which is the SLM/A’s demand to attach a supplementary document addressing our key fundamental demands with the objective of attaining a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Darfur. The AU Mediation Team has rushed a document that has come to life, weak and incomplete; subsequently, our request for a supplementary document has not been dealt with positively. As the result, the international community has been in a dilemma and there has also been a discontentment by the people of Sudan and the people of Darfur in particular with regard to the Proposed DPA. The AU has failed to resolve the Darfur conflict for the following reasons:

– The Proposed DPA did not include some key fundamental demands for the people of Darfur;
– The AU has been quite selective and putting pressure on the SLM/A to sign the Proposed DPA. This is a clear violation to the rules of mediation in the area of conflict resolution;

Accordingly, the SLM/A has decided the following:

– Any extension to the deadline to sign the Proposed DPA is a waste of time and unacceptable;
– The SLM/A retracts its previous proposal with regard to the addition of a supplementary document to the Proposed DPA. The SLM/A rejects the whole Agreement, and the Darfur file (to settle the conflict on Darfur) should be taken over by the United Nations.

Jaffer Monro,
Spokesperson & Press Secretary

For further info on this statement, please contact:
– Nouri Abdalla, SLM/A
– GSM phone: +254-72-752-2952
– Email: [email protected]