Darfur groups reject merger with JEM before peace talks

January 26, 2010 (DOHA) — After talks with the peace mediation team in Doha, the venue of the talks, two Darfur groups expressed their readiness for unity and talks with the government but rejected a merger with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

The Sudan Liberation Movement Revolutionary Forces (SLM-RF), which is a group supported by the Libyan government, and a group of rebel factions called the Addis Ababa group, which is supported by the US envoy to Sudan, held talks with the mediators. The mediators are seeking to reunite the rebel groups before engaging in direct talks with the Sudanese delegation.

Yesterday the Qatari state minister for foreign affairs, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, said the groups expressed willingness to take part in the talks with the government but also said it would be favorable for them to unite their positions before talks.

JEM — one of the main rebel groups in Darfur, which signed a goodwill agreement with Khartoum in February 2009 – had said recently they are opposed to the participation of the two groups in the peace talks unless they merge into one group under its leadership.

JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein Adam said these groups have no real presence on the ground in Darfur and they are just backed by some regional and international forces to obstruct a just and lasting solution to the seven year conflict.

“We had a very constructive meeting with the mediation and we believe there will be no peace without unity of all the groups,” said the SLM-RF Political Secretary Ahmed Hamad Abdel Rahman. However he further added they are opposed to the merger proposal made by JEM.

Ibrahim Beng, the spokesperson of the Addis Ababa group also slammed JEM’s position on their participation in the talks describing JEM as an “exclusionary movement”. But he reiterated the readiness of his group to work for the unity of all the rebel groups.

The two rebel groups said they did not yet meet with the JEM delegation. On this matter, JEM’s spokesperson had said they prefer to conduct the unification process on the ground as they did with some 22 factions in the past year.

The mediators are seeking to bridge the gaps between the three rebel groups and find a common ground between the three rebel delegations. The Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole and Minister Al-Mahmoud are expected to meet again with JEM rebels.

But Al-Mahmoud said they would not impose something on the rebel movements, rather they would push them to find a joint position and unify their ranks.

(ST)