“New Strategy for Darfur Peace” is doomed to Failure
By Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman
August 22, 2010 — The people of Sudan in Darfur are quite sure that the plot so-called ‘Peace from Inside’ which has been hatched by the National Congress Party (NCP) under the code name of the ‘New Strategy’ is intended to bury the Darfur issue through the dismantling of camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as part of its continuing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for which the Fugitive Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the Netherlands. This distasteful ploy would not fool the wit of the Sudanese people in Darfur and will fail and be thrown into the dustbin of history which the coming generations consider it as a disgraceful stigma, and antipathetic.
Political analysts indicate that the evil intentions behind this diabolical plot, the ‘New Strategy/ Darfur Peace from Within’ led by Dr. Ghazi Salah al-Din Atabani, Who is accustomed to the implement all the dirty and malignant work which his masters in the NCP order him to put into effect and who failed in the 1990s of the last century to impose it on the issue of the people of Sudan in the southern region, will fail miserably like its predecessor. ‘Peace from within’ strategy is the same recipe that the notorious National Islamic Front (NIF) tried to fool those who split off from the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/ Movement (SPLA/M) lead by the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior: they were Dr Lam Akol, Kerubino Kuanyin, Arob Tung and Dr Riek Machar who after been bamboozled by (NIF) to signed the so-called Khartoum Peace Agreement in 1997, went back to their senses and rejoined the mother revolution, the SPLA/M, to successfully negotiate and achieve the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9th 2005 for the people of Southern Sudan.
Jaafar Subki, writing from London, reported words and statements attributed to Mr. Mahjoub Hussein of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) that there have been signs of rift among the members of (LJM) on the actions of the former governor of Darfur region, Dr. Tigani Sessei, current Head of the Movement; the actions are considered to be in favour of the government of Sudan (GoS) and they do not serve the demands of the people of Darfur. According to the report, Mr. Hussein thought those behavioural patterns of Dr. Sessei may lead to a split and profound disagreements among the Liberation and Justice Movement ranks within days. Furthermore, the report also quoted Mr. Mahjoub Hussein as saying that ‘some people in the movement want to go to Khartoum at any cost by signing of any agreement with the government of Sudan provided guaranteed acquisition of jobs and their return to Sudan. He disclosed that discussions are underway by some leaders within the Liberation and Justice movement (LJM) and in the coming days there will be a create of «a Broad Front».On the other hand, Mahjoub Hussein, ruled out the resumption of the Doha negotiations following the month of Ramadan, especially as the government is working to establish and create a parallel platform, and impose solutions on the Darfur issue through the new strategy it has announced to resolve the Darfur crisis.
Mr. Subki’s report said that Mr. Mahjoub Hussein has noted that the (LJM) committees that were working on portfolios described as ‘Red Lines’ such concerning reconciliations, compensations and reparations and prosecutions have come to a standstill after the government decided not to be discussed. Hussein has been reported to have criticized the ‘new strategy’ to resolve the Darfur crisis and saying «this invasive strategy, in reference to the Ghazi Salah al-Din, will be doomed to the same fate as the “Kenana Forum”. and that the strategy simply attempts to dismantle the IDP camps in which security and humanitarian situation has been deteriorating, especially that the government wants to impose on the displaced a Blockade to prevent humanitarian organizations from entering the camps to provide basic needs of food, water and healthcare.
Observers consider the most positive and noteworthy part of what was quoted to have been said by Mr. Mahjoub Hussein is his statement that “there would be no peace in Darfur without the participation of all parties like the leader of the Justice and Equality (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim, and the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA/M), Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur”. As the proverb says that calamities gather people in solidarity to confront the difficulties and at this stage the issue of the people of Sudan in Darfur should have been the reason that make the Darfur rebel movements to unite and leave the personal ambitions and take the side of the great task for the lofty goals to achieve the demands and rights usurped by the criminal Government of National Congress Party (NCP) which is still practicing ethnic cleansing and Genocide of the people of Sudan in the Darfur region. The key words at this stage are Unity, Solidarity to pounce on the common enemy and eliminate and restore the rights of our people taken away by force unlawfully. I will echo the previous statement and say that all the loyal sons of Sudan in Darfur would agree with this trend, which calls for concerted efforts to unite because the goal of the struggle is to defeat our arch-enemy the Government of National Congress Party (NCP) and to return the rights in wealth and power sharing and the return of land (Hawakeer) to their owners and collective reparations and individual compensations and the return to the one region of Darfur and to do justice by trying each of those who committed a crime against the people of Darfur. This will to be followed by reconciliation and restoration of the social fabric. The old parable that “What was taken by force can only be returned by force” applies to the situation in Darfur and illustrates it as a moral lesson to be learnt and an obligatory task to be performed by all.
Will the Darfurian movements take that as a sacred duty for all to implement? That is the SIXTY FOUR DOLLAR QUESTION ($64) that awaits answers!
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected].