Darfur rebel group snobs Addis Ababa unity meeting
August 14, 2009 (PARIS) — Darfur rebel group reiterated today its rejection to a meeting expected to be held next week in Addis Ababa organized by US envoy to Sudan in order to reunite different factions of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
Gration stated recently he was working hard “to unify the (Darfur) rebels so that there is a spokesman for that group.”
However, a spokesperson of the SLM group led by the founder of the movement Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur said they are willing to discuss the reunification of their SLM but without the interference of the US envoy or other mediator.
“We are open to discuss the crucial issue of unity with our comrades because we are basically in favor of this idea. But we do not need the interference of the US envoy” said Abdel-Rahman Adam Nimer the military spokesperson of the group speaking to Sudan Tribune from Ndjamena.
“Such talks should be in the field among and we need to take all the needed time not a quick meeting in Addis Ababa,” he further said.
Nimer pointed out that the reunification of the rebel movement should not be done for the purpose of peace talks with the Sudanese government only saying “such unity is not viable.”
Last week, local press in Khartoum published statements attributed to Gration where he had invited Al-Nur partisans to choose another leader. The call disturbed his supporters who are already angered by what they consider a “supportive stance to Khartoum.”
“We are disturbed by Gration’s statements on the genocide in Darfur, and the improvement of humanitarian conditions in Darfur camps,” said Nimer who was keen to distinguish between Gration and the US people and Obama administration.
He also called upon the US administration and the other donors to provide the necessary logistical support for the organization of a unity conference inside Darfur if they are serious in their efforts to reunite the SLM factions.
This week, some eight rebel factions from SLM and other groups including two breakaway JEM factions renewed in Libya their commitment to negotiate with the Sudanese government with one delegation and a common ground paper.
The rebel factions had already agreed in March of this year to join Doha peace process but difference emerged between them emerged during a meeting held in Cairo last July when the Egyptian authorities proposed to form a new rebel groups before the talks.
Observers say Gration attempts to find a way for the representation of Darfur biggest ethnic group of the Fur tribe. SLM-Al Nur asks Khartoum before to accept the peace process to disarm the militias and to provide security for the return of displaced population to their homeland.
(ST)