SLM-Al-Nur appeals Darfur movements to stop inter-fighting
January 18, 2009 (LONDON) — The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel-Wahid Al Nur appealed to two other Darfur groups to stop their fighting over the control of Muhageria, a village located in southern Darfur where violence put at risk lives of civilians.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the SLM-Minni Minawi clashed on the outskirts of Muhageria location last Thursday 15 January. Both groups claimed to have inflicting heavy causalities on the other side.
The leader of the former rebel group, who turned Senior Presidential Assistant after a peace deal with the Sudanese government in 2006, yesterday requested JEM to pull out its troops unconditionally from the location. He also left Khartoum to El-Fasher in rout to Muhageria.
The SLM founder “deeply regrets the painful incidents of Muhageriya” between JEM and SLM wing led by Minni Minnawi said a statement issued by Yahya Bolad, the spokesperson of the group. “The incident added new suffering to the genocide survivors and gave the genocidal regime in Khartoum to speak in bravado that the victim has changed to a perpetrator” he added.
Bolad urged the two Darfurian movements to keep in mind that their enemy remains Khartoum government led by the National Congress Party. Such fighting means that “the NCP has succeeded to trap the friends of yesterday into enemies of today,” he stressed.
The hybrid peacekeeping mission confirmed today that JEM controls the disputed location. It further said that the SLA of Minni Minawi is regrouping for a counterattack to regain control of Muhageria which was their stronghold for five years.
The UNAMID said gravely concerned for the lives and safety of the civilian population and warned that continued fighting between the two groups could lead to a catastrophic humanitarian situation for the 30,000 residents and displaced civilians in Muhajeriya.
It also said the peacekeepers on the ground will protect the local population. However, the joint mission underlined the evacuation of the humanitarian personnel from the disputed town after the destruction of the office of an aid agency there.
The SLM of Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur pointed out that the struggle for the rights of Darfuris is “not intended to antagonize or kill each other but to direct the weapons in a collective effort towards the common enemy.”
(ST)