Darfur NRF leaders affirm keenness to end Darfur crisis
Jan 21, 2007 (LONDON) — During a meeting held with the US envoy to Sudan last week, a Darfur rebel front reaffirmed its keenness to end Darfur crisis and to achieve a just and lasting solution to the ongoing conflict.
In a meeting held on Friday 19 January with the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios The rebel National Redemption Front, reiterated its commitment to a just and lasting peace to put an end to the four-year conflict that killed over 200,000 people.
The NRF, in a paper presented by Sharif Harir, said it wants a comprehensive political settlement of the crisis treating the deep roots of the crisis in Darfur. It also affirmed that Khartoum should stop its military option and the daily killing of Darfur people.
NFR spokesperson, Ahmed Hussein Adam, told the Sudan Tribune from London that the NRF struggles for the rights of Darfur people who are killed and displaced by the regime. He also affirmed the readiness of his group for talk on the basis of the Declaration of Principles and the wealth and power sharing documents.
Natsios said he wanted to encourage the various rebel factions to forge a unified position in negotiations with the Sudanese government. Rivalries among the rebel groups have added to the difficulties of resolving the Darfur conflict.
Hussein said the NRF delegation explained to the US envoy that they have no plan to overthrow the Sudanese government. He further added his group expressed readiness to negotiate a ceasefire with Khartoum.
“It is Sudanese army and its militia who attack Darfur people and bombard our positions. [President] al-Bashir rejected publicly the ceasefire with us pretexting that our movement is established after the Abuja deal and he is not obligated to observe the April 2004 ceasefire with us” explained Hussein.
Nastios said he asked the NRF leadership to make a public statement renouncing the use of force to change the regime in Sudan. “You cannot negotiate with someone you try to overthrow” he said.
The NRF is created by three political groups on 30 June 2006, the Justice and Equality Movement which refused to sign the Darfur Peace Deal signed on 5 May 2006 between Khartoum and a former rebel SLM/A faction led by Minni Minawi, a faction of the SLM/A led by Khamis Abdalla Abakr and the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance led by Ahmed Diraij and Sharif Harir.
(ST)