Darfur rebels accuse African Union of ending truce

Aug 17, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur rebels accused the African Union on Thursday of supporting what it said was government aggression against them by evicting them from homeless camps in Sudan’s remote western region.

Only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed an AU-brokered peace deal for the region in May and on Wednesday the AU evicted officials from factions which did not join up.

Prior to May’s deal, the pan-African body employed representatives of all three groups to help investigate violations of a shaky truce agreed in 2004.

The AU said it took the decision after the government of Sudan declared the non-signing groups “terrorists” and told the AU it could not guarantee the safety of the representatives in AU camps.

Tens of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes during 1-1/2 years of fighting in Darfur to the camps in Sudan’s arid west or in neighbouring eastern Chad.

“Given the far-reaching implications of that decision, and the fact that (The AU) did not want to expose the personnel of these movements to any personal risks, it had no other option than to suspend their participation,” the AU said in a statement.

But Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which did not sign the May deal, said the AU decision was “legitimising this aggression from the government side against us”.

“By doing so the AU is terminating the ceasefire agreement of April 2004,” Ibrahim told Reuters from Paris.

The move could hinder investigations of truce violations as AU troops may not be able to travel safely in areas controlled by the two factions that did not sign the peace deal.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect.

The humanitarian truce in April 2004 was agreed by all rebel groups and the government to allow aid agencies to access those in need. UN officials called Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

JEM and some other non-signatories formed a new alliance called the National Redemption Front which attacked the town of Hamrat al-Sheikh in Kordofan neighbouring Darfur in June.

The government reacted by attacking their positions in Darfur, the NRF and the AU said.

JEM’s Ibrahim said the truce was legally binding in Darfur alone and not in any other parts of Sudan, so they were not violating the truce with the attack on Hamrat al-Sheikh.

(Reuters)

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Below the text of JEM press release on the issue:

In a reckless move, the AU suspended the DPA non-signatories from the CFC (Ceasefire Commission) and the Joint Commission (JC). The non-signatories consist of JEM, the G19 and other members of the National Redemption Front (NRF). Given the might of the block made of these bodies in Darfur conflict, the decision effectively dismantles the CFC, the JC and all related ceasefire Agreements and Protocols that have been painfully negotiated in Darfur crisis.

Much more ominously, the AU decision also puts an end to any claim to neutrality which the AU enjoyed and which continued despite the Abuja May 5th fiasco. Bizzare as it may be, an AU statement on the matter reads: “the government of Sudan declared that it cannot guarantee the security of the personnel of the non-signatory parties in the Ceasefire Commission”. Rather than challenge the GoS and attempt to patch ceasefire agreements in Darfur, the AU effectively disowns any claim to residual neutrality and turns itself into an executive body for Albashir’s junta.

The NRF holds the AU responsible for any negative outcome that follows this shameful turn of events.

Dr. Abdullahi Osman El-Tom, JEM

August 17th, 2006