Minawi’s commander joins a Darfur rebel faction

May 28, 2008 (LONDON) — A leading commander from a former rebel faction signatory of Darfur Peace Agreement has defected and joined a rebel faction opposed to the peace deal, a press statement announced.

Commander Jibril Jaber Jibril, the head of SLA-Minawi operations command, has defected today from the army of the Senior Presidential Assistant, Minni Arko Minawi and joined the Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity Command.

The SLM-Unity spokesperson, Mahgoub Hussein said today that Jibril had joined his group with loyal troops and nine military vehicles. The statement didn’t indicate the reason of the defection.

The SLM-Unity led by Abdallah Yahia is basically formed by former Minawi faction commanders and politicians like Suleiman Jamous, Sharif Harir or Mahgoub Hussein.

The failure of the peace deal and its non-implementation are the main motive for the defection of those frustrated commanders who feel that Abuja deal didn’t bring any tangible change on the ground.

“We reaffirm that the Sudanese regime does not honour the signed agreements and is not seriously committed to enforce any deal” said the statement.

At the end of October 2007, a total of twenty rebel commanders from the SLM-Minawi, joined the rebel SLM-Unity. The defectors blamed Minawi for human rights violations and negligence of the implementation of the peace agreement.

The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in May 2006 between the Sudanese government and Minawi’s faction has failed to stem the violence and banditry in the troubled region.

(ST)