Sudan NCP premeditated Darfur killing before 1989 coup – rebel leader
Feb 5, 2007 (LONDON) — In a bide to explain why he keeps calling for a strong military intervention in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, a Darfur rebel leader accused the ruling party of premeditating “the final solution” against Darfur people even before their 1989 coup d’état.
The Chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdelwahid al-Nur, told Sudan Tribune that the Sudanese regime had planned this “final solution” by supporting the militia attacks against villagers in the past years, and the second step is to regroup this population in concentration camps, and then kill them all in these camps.
According to the founder of the rebel SLM, at least 500, 000 people are killed due to this conflict. Robust international intervention from the UN or the NATO can stop the ongoing killing the region. He suggested a sustained and aggressive pressure on Khartoum. He appealed for imposing targeted sanctions against Sudan.
The rebel leader also hailed the British position on the Darfur crisis, and their threats impose a non fly zone, or targeted sanctions.
Regarding the peace talks, al-Nur has repeated his demands fro conductive measure prior to negotiations with the government. He said no peace talks can be held “unless the Khartoum regime’s stop its genocidal campaign against our people”.
The following is the text of the interview, subheadings inserted editorially:
– Mr. Al-Nur, please tell us about the current situation on the ground in Drafur?
Al-Nur: Well, the situation is horrific. The Khartoum regime and its Janjaweed militias are moving toward their final solution which is to kill all our people in Darfur.
– What do you mean by final solution?
Al-Nur: Basically, what I mean is that since 1989, the rulers of National Islamic Front (NIF) and now National Congress Party decided to become dictators, the extermination or what one of my friend calls “The Final Solution” of our people in Darfur already in their mind.
Their racist and genocidal ideas are so strong that they released their hatred by killing all our people through different steps. The first step is to support the Janjaweed militias against our indigenous populations. Here, everything was planned, to kill as much as they can, burn all the villages, terrorize the populations and loot their properties that would cause much physical, psychological harms and chaos. The next solution is the evacuation of the population and put them in concentration camps, either in an internal displaced (IDPs) or refugee camps. The final plan is to kill them all in these camps. This is what I mean by final solution, and what they (Khartoum regime) are planning to implemented now.
– what can we do to stop such horrific genocide in Darfur?
Al-Nur: the solution is very simple which is the . It is the intervention of UN or NATO forces. As you know, well over 500,000 Darfuris have already killed in a brutal genocide, and more than 3 million have been driven from their homes. Just yesterday, the Sudanese army and its Janjaweed militias launched a new military offensive against civilian population in many areas in Darfur. So, without an immediate intervention of UN, or NATO, forces, the situation will even be worse for our people.
– But all ready there is UN resolutions on Darfur.
Al-Nur: Yes, there are more than ten UN resolutions on Darfur, and last one was in late August, 2006, the UN Security Council authorized deployment of a Chapter VII UN mission to Darfur. While this was a positive decision, the UN has indicated it will only begin deployment after the government of Sudan gives its consent. And so far, Khartoum regime keep resisting all UN Security Council resolutions on Darfur, and contusing its genocide in Darfur. So, what we need is to exert sustained and aggressive diplomatic pressure on Khartoum regime and followed with imposing targeted financial, travel, and diplomatic sanctions against the regime’s leadership. In nutshell, the deployment of UN peacekeepers should be with or without Khartoum’s consent. The refusal to allow the deployment of UN peacekeepers must be denounced strongly by all peace loving countries, nations and societies.
If the UN peacekeepers deployment became difficult, then we should publicly support NATO intervention. Given its current peacekeeping resources and limitations, the UN has said it will take many months for any UN contingent to begin deployment to Darfur, assuming that this deployment happens. With millions of lives at stake, we do not believe that our people in Darfur can wait any longer for protection. We urge all those whom believe in human rights to support our idea to help deploy a NATO rapid-response force in Darfur. NATO would have the ability to establish civilian protection immediately. NATO has the military capabilities and prior troop numbers to ensure security of our people in Darfur. In short, we would like to indicate that the death toll of our people is fast approaching high numbers. We hope all the peace loving countries will take an action as soon as possible to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur region.
– Now, as you know, the western democratic countries applauded your appeal; other countries, said that this smacked of imperialism. How do you answer those critics?
Al-Nur: we were not surprised that some countries accepted it and others disagreed with it. But I think what is important is that in today’s world, when we have the kinds of genocide such as the one in Darfur that we are talking about, we need to take measures to stop it and then we can debate such idea of colonial and post colonial arguments. What we really need it now is a civilian protection and not the academic or intellectual debates or exercise.
– But how do you balance out a nation’s desire for its own sovereignty to protect that, its own sovereignty against an international need to intervene in the case of human rights abuses?
Al-Nur: I can understand a nation’s right to intervene, I mean, to protect its sovereignty. On the other hand, let us look at the world as it exists today, I argued that the traditional concept of sovereignty is being changed by the developments in the world today, from globalization, there are lots of areas governments do not control. They do not control the external factors that affect their economy. They do not control financial flows. They do not control some of the environmental issues. Why the protection of our people from genocide should be the only area that they should insist they should be allowed to control without any interference? Let me put it this way, if the citizens’ rights are respected, there will be no need for anyone to want to intervene either through diplomatic means or coercive means. And it is also, I think the Khartoum regime should see it not as a license for people to come in and intervene. We are talking about our people’s situations where there are serious and gross and systematic genocide. I think that if the Khartoum regime able protect its citizens and their rights and do not create such kind of situation have no reason to worry that anyone would intervene.
– Yesterday, Feb 3, 2007, UK says “Sudan has to accept UN force or faces coercive measures”, and at the same time Chinese President Hu Jintao told Sudan to give UN bigger role in Darfur resolution, how do you feel about these two statements?
Al-Nur: You know, I was pleased with the UK statement. It reinforced hopes in our people’s minds that the International community still concern about their plight.
The statement, however, came in an important moment in some ways because our people are going through a terrible situation of genocide. In other words, our people in the concentration camps (refugee and internal displaced camps) saying, well, we have left alone to face the racist and genocidal regime. So, this statement will give them some hopes. But, we express our disappointment to the international community that there are too much talking for almost four years without taking actions against the genociders in Khartoum. What we need is a practical action that will stop the genocide against our people.
In terms of the statement by the Chinese President Mr. Hu Jontao, our response is that we heard his argument on how Khartoum regime to give UN bigger role in Darfur resolution, but, we have not heard from him to tell us how to stop the killing of our people in Darfur. So, our request to Mr. Hu Jontao is that it is better not to help the Khartoum regime to commit genocide against it is own civilian populations. Because otherwise, the violence, in our judgment, and we think in the judgment of others, if we do not help to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur region, it is going to get a lot worse, believe it or not. In other words, if we do not stop this now, the genocide against our people will continue and will spiral out of control; we mean, it would just really create a very dangerous situation for the China’s investment in Sudan and all over Africa in the longer run.
CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT BEFORE NEGOTIATIONS
– are you going to negotiate with Khartoum government soon?
Al-Nur: Peaceful settlement is one of our ultimate objectives. In that regard, we would like to take this opportunity to express our strong commitment to the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace agreement in Darfur; we also express our hope for further achievements of peace settlements in all Sudan. Nevertheless, in recognition of the possibilities for achieving a comprehensive peace in Darfur, first we need a positive and conducive environment for any negotiations with the Khartoum regime. This can not be done unless the Khartoum regime’s stop its genocidal campaign against our people. In other words, let us first enhance the security of our people by stopping the genocide against them and protect them from the genociders, return them home and then let us think about any political negotiations. We believe that this is the most effective ways that the international community can support progress in negotiation process with the Khartoum regime. To that end, we can enter the peace process with the understanding that the process would proceed on the basis of international law, UN Security Council Resolutions and the cessation of the hostility.
THE SECULAR STATE’S VISION
– Al-Nur, you are the founder and the chairman of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), what is the vision of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)?
Al-Nur: Well, currently, our main focus is how to stop the genocide against our people, return them home and protect them from the genociders. However, as I mentioned before, our vision is very simple, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), is an independent liberal political organization that seeks to create secular united democratic Sudan base on equal citizenship rights and aggregate the interests of the all Sudanese people.
APPEAL
– What is your message to Darfurians, Sudanese people and the international community?
– Al-Nur: We would like to re-express our deepest gratitude and respect to our people of Darfur in their concentration camps (IDPs, and refugee camps), towns, cities and Diaspora; as well as to our fellow Sudanese people and the international community for their continuous solidarity and humane support. Also, we would like to extend our appeal to those who believe in humanity to help us to stop the genocide against our people in Darfur and help us to return them to their homes and protect them from the genociders, and then to support us to reach into political settlement that will lead us into our final end with is a secular democratic united Sudan.
(ST)