Darfur rebels cancel meeting with UNAMID chief

March 21, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel Wahdi Al-Nur said today they had to cancel their meeting, scheduled for Tuesday with the chief of Darfur peace keeping force in Kampala adding another date will be fixed soon

The rebel group said earlier this month they wanted to discuss issues related to civilian security and humanitarian assistance with Ibrahim Gambari after the continued fighting with the government army that forced displacement of thousands of families from their villages in the region.

“Our leader can not arrive to Kampala on Tuesday due to some technical reasons. So unfortunately we had to cancel the meeting,” said Nimir Abdel Rahman, SLM-AW spokesperson.

“We hope to determine another date very soon for this important meeting,” he added.

Gambari met last week with the deputy commander in chief of the rebel group during a rare visit to the Fanga Suk village, in East Jebel Marra (West Darfur), 88 km from Tawilla, on Friday 18 March.

South Darfur governor expelled last February the only aid group Médecins du Monde working in the mountainous area of Jebel Marra in central Darfur. The governor accused the French organization of collaborating with the rebel movement.

The head of the hybrid operation met with the Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir on Monday to discuss the security situation and the developments of the political process in Darfur he told reporters after the meeting.

He added that the meeting comes within the framework of periodic meetings to inform the Sudanese political leadership of the efforts undertaken by the UNAMID in the framework of its mandate aimed at strengthening security and stability in Darfur.

(ST)