Sudanese government, SLM’s al-Nur hold secret contacts
July 11, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese government seeks to convince a holdout rebel group to join Darfur peace agreement signed with Minawi group in last May. Contacts are going on between the two parties Sudan Tribune has learned.
Sudanese government launched secret contacts with the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid al-Nur in a move to convince him to join DPA. According to ST sources, Khartoum made several concessions in term of compensations and political representation but al-Nur insists on the International guaranties particularly in the disarmament of the Janjaweed militia, and the UN role in the peacekeeping mission.
The expected visit of the Sudanese First Vice President to Asmara should pushes in this direction to persuade Nur to join the peace deal with the signing of complement document.
The Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi is also involved in these contacts with al-Nur; a delegation of his movement was in Tripoli to present their point of view to the Libyan official last June.
A dissident group from al-Nur SLM provoked a surprise in Khartoum by declaring their nomination of Abdelwahid al-Nur for the position for the position of the Assistant of the President of the Republic.
Ibrahim Abdeldayem al-Sideiq, the spokesperson of the SLM (Free Will), a faction from al-Nur group which joined the DPA in June, said they hope that al-Nur would join peace agreement soon.
Khartoum sees it is difficult to ignore al-Nur who represents the biggest tribe in the western Sudan of the Fur ethnic group.
Minawi who is also nominated by this movement to the position of Presidential Assistant is weakened by the internal divisions after the signing of the 5 May agreement. He was representing to most powerful group. But his ethnic group Zaggawa is a small group in the region.
Thousands in Darfur’s refugee camps have demonstrated daily against the accord saying it does not meet their basic demands and AU forces monitoring a shaky truce there have been attacked by angry and frustrated Darfuris.
Earlier in July, Sudan’s top U.N. official has said the Darfur peace deal should be amended to meet key rebel demands to save the foundering agreement, in an apparent shift from his previous statements.
Pronk said “We need the support of Abdelwahid and his followers, who together represent at least two thirds of the displaced people in the camps,” he said. “In Darfur the people who are the victims of the war turn against the Darfur Peace Agreement.”
Abdelwahed Mohamed al-Nur of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) refused the peace settlement signed on May 5 by the Sudanese government and rival SLA factional leader Minni Arcua Minnawi to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.
Nur says he will sign the peace deal, but only if first the government accepts some of his key demands in an annex accord.
The demands include greater compensation from Khartoum for Darfur war victims and greater SLA involvement in monitoring the disarmament of the Janjaweed and the return home of refugees.
(ST)