SLM leader raises doubts over Darfur peace efforts
May 8, 2007 (LONDON) — A Darfur rebel leader expressed doubts on the seriousness of international efforts to end Darfur crisis. He said international community seeks a political solution to the four-year conflict in western Sudan without real understanding of the root causes of the conflict.
Abdelwahid al-Nur, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) accused in a statement to Sudan Tribune, the international community of ignoring the root causes of Darfur conflict. “The government confiscated the land, killed Darfurians and replaced them by new comers. So, we need to stop the killing, restitute the land to evicted legitimate owners and allocate individual compensations for IDPs and refugees,” he stressed.
He said the international mediators are working to conclude a new deal and to legalize the status quo. Al-Nur blamed the international actors saying they avoid to meet him, while they are preparing a “New Abuja” under worst conditions: appropriate the land and put pressures on the victims of the conflict.
Jan Eliasson, the U.N. special envoy to Darfur, will arrive in Khartoum on Wednesday with Salim Ahmed Salim, the AU special envoy to the region, for talks with Sudanese officials to help “re-energise” the Darfur peace process, a U.N. statement said.
The rebel leader warned Khartoum saying his movement is still committed to a ceasefire agreement signed in 2004 despite the repeated breaches, and they seek sincerely a lasting settlement in Darfur. Adding as long as the legitimate demands of Darfur peoples are not realized his movement will not stop the struggle. He also warned that they are patient enough up to now but he can’t promise to maintain this situation indefinitely.”
He declined to elaborate on this regard.
He added that he does not seek a position because to be appointed in important function as it is the case for the signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement didn’t resolve the crisis.
According to Nur, the resolution of the crisis can be reached if Khartoum: a) stops the killing of the people of Darfur, restitution of the land — or what Darfur people call Hwakir (land ownership) –, b) disarms the Khartoum backed militias and; c) implements the UN resolution 1706 related to the deployment of UN forces in Darfur.
Al-Nur said Darfur crisis has become an experimentation field for fruitless organizations. He pointed out that during Abuja talks in 2006 he proposed the supplementary document to address unresolved issue in the DPA but at that time the proposal was rejected by the mediators.
The United-Nations says around 200,000 people have died and more than 2 million displaced since the conflict flared in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms against the government, accusing it of neglect. Khartoum says only 9,000 have lost their lives.
(ST)