To avoid UN forces, Sudan has to admit DPA failure – rebel leader

Sept 26, 2006 (ASMARA) – A Darfur rebel leader said the only way to shut the door in front of the international forces deployment in Darfur is to negotiate with the rebels groups and to recognize the failure of a peace deal signed with a rebel faction.

The former leader of the unified Sudan Liberation Movement, who is currently based in Asmara after his dismissal from the SLM last July, Abdelwahid al-Nur told Alayam newspaper that the only way to prevent the deployment of international troops in Darfur is for the government to admit the failure of the Abuja Peace Agreement.

He frther said the government needed to enter into a real dialogue with groups opposed to the DPA in order to grant the region its historic rights in wealth and power, and to resolve the problems of IDPs, who were affected by the war.

Nur said the solution to the problem of Darfur would be achieved by recognizing Darfur as one state, ruled by a majority of the sons of the region, and for Darfurians to be represented fairly in the central government according to their population quota. In addition, individual compensation should be paid to the region’s IDPs who had been affected by the war based on the principle of positive discrimination.

He further said he was surprised at the government’s criticism of the Eritrean state and pointed out that the government had accepted Asmara’s mediation in the eastern talks, which indicated reciprocal trust.

Al-Nur is the founder of the rebel SLM group. After divergences with Minni Minawi (Zaggawa) , the group divided in two main faction after the Haskanita conference in October 2005. Later in December 2005, another group led by Khamis Abdalla Abakr (Massalitte) splinted from Abdelwahid.. On 31 July SLM military commanders dismissed Abdelwahid from the leadership of the movement. His ethnic group (Fur) accused him of authoritarian style and misleading the SLM interests.

The UN Security Council late last month adopted a resolution calling for the deployment of up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers in Darfur, a territory roughly the size of France where African monitors have failed to stop the bloodshed.

(ST)