Darfur rebel leader says US Gration is “obstacle” before peace
August 23, 2009 (PARIS) — A Darfur rebel leader slammed the President US envoy saying he becomes a new obstacle in the ongoing efforts to settle Darfur crisis.
The SLM-Al-Nur sacked some six commanders who attended the unity meeting in Addis Ababa and said not concerned by its conclusions.
Gration also attended on Sunday a quadripartite meeting in Cairo with the participation of Egypt and Libyan foreign ministers and the Sudanese Presidential Adviser in charge with Darfur dossier.
“Instead of playing a positive role in the resolution of Darfur conflict in order to stop the ongoing violence against Darfur people, the special envoy of President Obama to Sudan abandoned his mission and has become a problem and an obstacle due to his non-neutral position,” Al Nur said.
The rebel leader, who rejects talks with the government until Khartoum disarm its militias and the return of the 2.7 million displaced population to their homeland, added that Gration is now touring regional capitals to please neighboring countries.
He further added that Gration tries to supplant the joint mediator and “no doubts he obstructs all his plans” to end the conflict and alleviate the suffering of Darfur people.
Djibril Bassole, the AU-UN mediator, had succeeded, with the Libyan support, to convince some rebel factions to organize themselves and to join the Doha peace process with one delegation. But Egypt also in July gathered the same groups and proposed them to form one structure.
US envoy to Sudan also organized a meeting for four rebel factions and asked them to unify their groups in one organization. The rebels agreed to meet within 60 days to reunite their factions.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga about Abdel Wahid Al-Nur, Mr. Scott Gration said “This is not something about Abdel Wahid versus Scott Gration; this is about rebels from all different factions unifying to help and ensure that the will of the people of Darfur is carried out in a process that can make a difference.”
Gration was critical to Tripoli and Cairo meeting because it didn’t include representatives of Darfur large ethnic group of the Fur that Al-Nur belongs to.
Al-Nur who had rejected Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, further said that during Abuja talks and after it, they witnessed similar attempts to force them to accept unfair agreements.
But “Days vindicated the rightness of our position to not accept solutions that do not fulfill the demands of Darfur people,” he said.
Earlier this month, the leader of Justice and Equality Movement Khalil Ibrahim also lashed out at the US envoy saying Gration “is acting like a foreign minister for Al-Bashir and with that he’s harmed the unjustly treated in Darfur and is only strengthening the government.”
Gration, who seems enjoying the support of the US President, is also criticized by Darfur advocacy groups. In a letter sent to the US envoy to Sudan two weeks ago they accused him of “failing to acknowledge human rights violations” or holding Khartoum accountable for its “lack of commitment to peace and justice”.
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DASODIKO
Darfur rebel leader says US Gration is “obstacle” before peace
Wahid never give up you are about to make a history. no one on earth can impose his will on us. I challenge those who split from their factions to get united. The same self interests that let them to defect from their main factions will also let them to disagree on many issues too.My friend; the devil Lam Akol is at work.
Bravo; now let the Sudanese Governemnt and American Gration find somebody to sit with them for negociations. The only person they may find to sit with them on behalf of the IDPs might be Thabo Mbeki. and you know why?