Rebel group urges UN to reconsider timing of Darfur talks
September 19, 2007 (LONDON) — A Darfur rebel group requested the delay of Darfur peace talks scheduled to start at the end of the next October in Libya. The group said parties are not ready to enter into genuine political talks.
Among the requested measures for confidence building, the rebel group suggested new ceasefire agreement followed by total halt of military operations in Darfur.
Abdelshafi also suggested to hold specialized consultations and workshops before the forthcoming round of negotiations. He said it would allow avoiding delay during the talks and help the rebel teams to develop common positions on the issues to be negotiated.
The position paper criticized the lack of consultations with the rebel groups; it disclosed that it wasn’t consulted in the date and the venue of the talks. The rebel group warned that would not consider itself party to the peace process unless it is treated “as full partner on an equal footing with the GoS.”
Differences between the fractious rebel groups have bedevilled efforts to solve the conflict in Darfur, where a four-year rebellion and recurring ethnic violence have killed some 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes, international experts say. Khartoum disputes these numbers.
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Subject: SLM Position on the Forthcoming Political Negotiations with GoS
1. The SLM wishes to reaffirm its declared position that the conflict in Darfur is a political one and it can only be resolved through peaceful political negotiations. The SLM also wishes to reaffirm that the conflict in Darfur is multi-dimensional in nature and, therefore, it requires genuine political solutions that take into account all the relevant dimensions of the situation. The SLM believes that any viable solution to the armed conflict in Darfur should address the root causes of the protracted political violence in Sudan as well as the obstacles to the realization of peace and stability in the country.
2. The SLM is of the view that in order to address the relevant dimensions of the conflict in Darfur with success, the political exercise needs proper preparation. This is why the SLM considers it urgent to further engage with its partners in order to harmonise common strategy and come up with a coherent negotiation position vis à vis the various issues under discussion. To avoid delay during the negotiations, and the replication of some of the negative aspects of the Abuja experience during which priceless time was wasted, it is crucial that specialized consultations and workshops be organised before the forthcoming round of negotiations. These consultations should be designed to increase the capacity of the movements and their negotiating teams and help them develop common positions on the issues to be negotiated. Such activities would help create the most practical mechanism to channel the views of the people of Darfur including IDPs, refugees, community leaders, women’s groups and other civil society organizations in the forthcoming negotiations.
3. The SLM is concerned that on many occasions it has been practically excluded from genuine participation in, or even consultation about, decisions adopted by the African Union (AU) or the United Nations and their institutions, which have important bearing on the situation in Darfur. It is unacceptable that only the views of one party to the conflict in Darfur i.e. the Government of Sudan (GoS) have been accorded due attention by the AU, the UN and their institutions. An example in point is the way in which the date and venue for the forthcoming peace negotiations were agreed upon by GoS and the UN/AU without proper consultation with the SLM. The SLM learned about this crucial decision in the first place only from the media. Such methods impose an undue burden on the SLM and affect its decisions on some critical issues. The SLM can no longer tolerate such practices.
4. The SLM makes it clear henceforth that it would not be in a position to consider itself party to any proposed process unless it is treated by the international community and the mediation team as full partner on an equal footing with the GoS and that it is duly consulted throughout the process. The SLM insists that its views should be reflected concerning all the details of the peace process in Darfur including the modalities of negotiations, the timing, the mechanisms and the selection of the venue for the forthcoming round of negotiations.
5. It is the SLM’s strong belief that ambiguity surrounds the position of the GoS regarding the basis and the status of the future round of political negotiations on Darfur. A number of outstanding questions need to be clarified in particular the negotiations in the area of power- sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements. The SLM is of the view that an agreed-upon mechanism for consultation is urgently needed to clarify the ambiguities surrounding these issues. If implemented in good faith the SLM expects this measure for direct informal consultation would save the international community most precious time and would save any money to be invested in an ill-prepared exercise.
6. The SLM once again reaffirms its commitment to, and respect for, the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement on the Conflict in Darfur, which was signed in N’djamena on 8th April 2004. However, the existing ceasefire agreement has been constantly violated by GoS and its Janjaweed militias and that little effort, if any, has been made by the AU or the UN to rectify this situation. In this regard we draw attention that most of the devastation committed by GoS in Darfur was done after the signing of the N’djamena Ceasefire Agreement.
7. Forced displacement of civilians through aerial bombardment by GoS army, ground attacks by the Janjaweed, as well as other heinous crimes including sexual violence against women and girls, extrajudicial killing and the detention of civilians continue unabated. According to the latest UN report “over 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced during 2007,” and that “In many IDP camps, armed elements are present, and violent incidents are increasing.” The war-affected populations – especially in the major IDP camps – are under constant attack from the GoS and its security forces. Hundreds of people from Darfur, including IDP leaders, are held incommunicado in GoS custody. They are held under severe conditions and subjected to extra-judicial killing, torture and humiliation.
8. On 17th September 2007 the UN Secretary General expressed his concern that on 10th and 11th September 2007 GoS security forces attacked Haskanita in north Darfur and that according to reports of the African Union Mission in Sudan, GoS used “aerial bombardments involving helicopter gunships and ground military clashes … caused the deaths of a number of civilians.” He expressed his sense of alarm that “ … the reported attacks took place in spite of the signing of a joint communiqué on 6 September, during the Secretary-General’s visit to Sudan, in which GoS committed to a full cessation of hostilities in Darfur in the lead-up to the political negotiations”. He further reiterated his concern that such military attacks “endanger the peace process.”
9. The situation in Darfur is also complicated by the continuing GoS policy to resettle alien nomads in the region or move groups of nomads from other parts of Sudan into areas of Darfur from which indigenous populations have been forcibly displaced. This policy illustrates serious lack of good will on the part of GoS and unequivocally jeopardizes any endeavour for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur. It also triggers future devastating conflicts in the region. The SLM therefore calls for an immediate end to such a dangerous policy. The first step in this regard should be for the AU and the UN to establish a separate mechanism, with SLM participation, to address this issue as a matter of top priority, with a clear timeline to expatriate those alien nomads.
Removal of alien nomads, and others brought by GoS to Darfur from other parts of Sudan, from areas they occupy in Darfur should be an integral part of any AU/UN conflict prevention policy in the region.
10. The SLM believes that the violence and insecurity currently prevailing in Darfur is not conducive to a genuine political process. The AU-run Cease-fire Commission and the Joint Commission are practically non-existent. These two bodies are dysfunctional since they expelled representatives of the SLM from their work following the conclusion of the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur in Abuja in May 2006.
11. For all the reasons mentioned above, the SLM is of the opinion that the parties to the conflict in Darfur are not yet prepared to enter into genuine political negotiations. Under the circumstances, the timing of the forthcoming round of peace negotiations on Darfur – as scheduled to convene in Tripoli on 27th October 2007 – needs to be reconsidered. True confidence-building measures are needed urgently on the ground. The first step should be a total halt to military operations in Darfur and an end to the GoS-sponsored crimes committed against our people on a daily basis. The SLM therefore is of the view that a new ceasefire arrangement and mechanism should be worked out and then implemented on the ground. The parties need few months of total calm in Darfur in order to prove their commitment to the new ceasefire arrangement. This would, in turn, create a situation of confidence and good will that could lead to viable political negotiations.
12. SLM believes that objective observers, as well as all those concerned about the peace process in Darfur, would understand that the points raised above in no way represent an attempt to derail the proposed AU-UN Roadmap, which has been worked out to re-energize the political process in Darfur. We are confident that they would find in the above-mentioned points an additional impetus to reinforce the work of the UN and the AU for a just and lasting peaceful settlement of the conflict in Darfur. These points provide a realistic approach to ensure the success of the forthcoming round of political negotiations as well as the overall peace process. Our objective is to lay down a solid foundation for lasting peace in Darfur.
Sincerely,
Ahmed Abdelshafi Toba, Chairman
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army
Copy to:
– H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General
– H.E. President Alpha Oumare Konaré, Chairman of the AU Commission
– Representatives of States member of the UN Security Council
For further information please contact Nouri Abdalla in Kampala at: 00256 77 453 53 04
Below the text of the SLM-Abdelshafi position paper