Talks start to unite fractious Darfur rebels
August 3, 2007 (ARUSHA, Tanzania ) — A three-day round of talks was due to kick off Friday in a bid to unify the positions of Darfur’s fractious rebels following the landmark UN approval of a beefed up peacekeeping mission.
Sponsored by the African Union and United Nations, the meeting in the Tanzanian town of Arusha will seek to define a common stance among the rebels for a fresh round of peace negotiations with the Sudanese government.
When the deadly conflict erupted in the impoverished western Sudanese region four and a half years ago, the uprising against the central authority in Khartoum was spearheaded by one group.
Now diplomats face the daunting task of finding common ground for a dozen rebel factions, with one of the most significant ones missing from the talks.
The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Abdelwahid Mohammed Nur — the rebellion’s founding father and a member of Darfur’s largest tribe — is boycotting the talks, arguing that most factions have little legitimacy and that an effective ceasefire should be a precondition for dialogue.
“The more you recognise individuals as faction leaders by inviting them to talks like those in Arusha, the more factions there will be, and consequently disorder on the ground,” Yahia Bolad, a spokesman for Nur, told AFP.
“Anyone with a Land Cruiser and satellite phone can proclaim himself a faction leader,” he said, arguing that the model that led to Sudan’s 2005 north-south peace deal should be applied to Darfur.
“In the case of south Sudan, pressure was applied for everyone to remain under the leadership of John Garang,” he said.
A Darfur peace deal was reached with the Sudanese government in May 2006 but it was only endorsed by one of three negotiating rebel groups. Violence has since spiralled and splinter factions have flourished.
The signatory was Minni Minawi, a military commander who broke away from Nur’s group and is now the fourth-ranking official in the Sudanese state.
According to a recent report on Darfur rebels, the need is not so much for an effort to revive the Abuja peace deal but for a new and inclusive process.
“Abuja is dead. Moving forward requires starting from scratch. The most immediate hurdle remains the rebelsÂ’ lack of unity and political vision,” said the report, published last month by the Small Arms Survey.
Some factions have made an effort to streamline their unwieldy ranks ahead of the Arusha talks.
In mid-July, the leaders of five rebel factions gathered in the Eritrean capital agreed to form an alliance, the United Front for Liberation and Development, and invited other splinter groups to join.
In recent statements, the new umbrella organisation took a swipe at “grandstanding” rebel leaders and urged all to forego personal interests.
Another four movements — including the Justice and Equality Movement — adopted a common position ahead of Arusha during a meeting Tuesday in Tripoli, the Libyan news agency reported.
The UN envoy to Sudan Jan Eliasson and his AU counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim may need a gesture from Khartoum to convince rebel groups to unite and pave the way for talks.
This could come in the shape of a release of Suleiman Jamous, a key rebel figure who has acted as coordinator to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of Darfur.
Jamous, initially detained by Minawi over his opposition to the Abuja deal, has been confined to a hospital for more than a year and needs medical treatment.
On Monday, 11 celebrities and rights activists — including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actress Mia Farrow and Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams — sent Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir a letter demanding Jamous’ release.
(AFP)