Darfur Arab rebel group disband and joins JEM
February 1, 2008 (AL-FASHER) – A Darfur Arab rebel group has merged with rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a press statement said today.
“The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) has decided to join JEM, inclusive of its political and military structures.” Said a statement signed by the Secretary General of the SRF, Babikir Abaker Hasan Hamadain, and nine other leading commanders.
The SRF took up arms against the government in 2006 and “a member of the Mahamid tribe –Awlad Zeid section– from which most of Musa Hilal’s forces are drawn,” wrote Julie Flint in a paper published by Sudan Tribune last January.
The Arab group said they took this decision because JEM “has spearheaded the cause of Darfur people, stood for the rights of the marginalised people in Sudan.”
The alliance of the Arab tribes with rebel movements in Darfur has been seeing as positive by some observers because it prevents Khartoum from way its war by proxy and help to preserve the social fabric in the war-torn region.
“JEM has also affirmed its commitment to justice and equality within a national unity that reflects aspirations of all Sudanese people, irrespective of religious, ethnic, linguistic, geographical or regional affiliations.” The rebel statement said.
(ST)