South Sudan VP confirms failure to bring Darfur rebel leader to talks

By James Gatdet Dak Lampuar

September 22, 2007 (JUBA) – The Vice-President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Riek Machar Teny, has confirmed that the historical leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army (SLM/A), Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, has refused to participate in the upcoming peace talks on Darfur scheduled to take place at the end of October in Tripoli, Libya.

In a press statement on Friday 21 September at Juba International Airport shortly after his arrival from Paris, France — where he met with Abdelwahid al-Nur — Riek Machar said the SLM leader has presented a number of pre-conditions before he could decide to join the peace process.

Machar further said that Al-Nur’s position is to first see the UN-AU hybrid forces deployed on the ground in Darfur, full disarmament of Janjaweed militias, removal of new settlers from the Darfur and return of Darfur Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back to their places of origin before he could accept any peace talks.

By thinking that these pre-conditions be accepted and implemented by the government before the peace negotiations, al-Nur “puts the cart before the horse,” Machar told a group of journalists.

Machar pointed out that the rebel leader should accept peace negotiations without the pre-conditions so that he could represent and negotiate his faction’s position at the negotiations table.

He explained that the mandate of the UN&AU hybrid forces does not include disarmament of Janjaweed militias and forced removal of new settlers from Darfur. “This position would be negotiated by Abdelwahid al-Nur at the peace negotiations table, and this was what I tried to explain several times to him so that he could understand it,“ Machar further explained. “The hybrid peace keeping forces are supposed to keep peace in Darfur while it is the responsibility of the

Darfur factions and the government of Sudan to bring about that peace so that the hybrid forces could keep it,” he added.

However, al-Nur stated that Khartoum has no credibility and from the past they learnt that the ruling National Congress Party dishonors signed agreements. According to him, these pre-conditions should be implemented by the Sudanese government to prove its seriousness and to create conducive environment for peace talks.

In a letter sent to the UN secretary general, the rebel leader considers peace talks should be dedicated to discus “the root causes of the problem and obtain a total settlement.”

Machar said he met with the French Foreign Minister who also expressed his government’s shared views with the Government of Southern Sudan and the SPLM on the way forward in the Darfur peace process.

In the British capital, London, Machar said he also met with representatives of three other Darfur groups who voiced their acceptance and readiness to participate in the peace process. Machar’s meetings with them concentrated on coordination of peace efforts with the Government of Southern Sudan and the SPLM to help the Darfur rebels to re-affirm a common negotiation position with the government.

The southern Sudan vice-president said all the Darfur rebels factions have now been invited by the SPLM to come to Juba for a consultative conference to re-affirm this common position reached earlier in Arusha, Tanzania, and to form a joint delegation for the peace talks and initiate a process for reconciliation to achieve organic unity among the Darfurians.

Abdelwahid al-Nur did not attend the Arusha meeting and has now turned down the invitation to Juba by the SPLM. Machar said he was also discouraged by this decision of al-Nur not to recognize the importance and urgent need for organic unity among the Darfur rebels groups.

The Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President pointed out the need to achieve peace in Darfur for the benefit of all the Sudanese people. He said if peace is achieved in Darfur, national resources in the country could be concentrated on the development of the nation.

He explained that the pledges committed in Oslo, Norway, by donors more than two years ago, and about half of which could have come to Southern Sudan for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of this war-ravaged autonomous region, have now been diverted to Darfur to try to contain the humanitarian crisis in that region.

(ST)