Former West Darfur governor reunites with rebel SLM- Al-Nur

May 20, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — In a move aiming to reunite all the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) factions, former West Darfur governor Abu Al-Gasim Imam Mohammed Al-Haj who is the leader of the (SLM- The Mother) today reintegrated the mainstream group led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur .

According to an agreement inked Friday in undisclosed African country the two rebel leaders agreed to reunite their groups under the leadership of the SLM founder Abdel Wahid Al-Nur. They also committed themselves to work together for the establishment of a federal, democratic, secular and multicultural state in Sudan.

The two rebel leaders also affirmed the need to achieve accountability for crimes and atrocities committed in Darfur and other regions and reiterated their support for the resolutions of the international community in this regard.

The signing ceremony was attended by the former Senior Presidential Assistant and leader of a SLM group Minni Minnawi who signed an alliance agreement with Al-Nur last week.

Abu Al-Gasim is the third rebel leader to rejoin the SLM- Al-Nur after the SLM Juba-Unity led by Al-Hadi Idriss Yahya and the Revolutionary Democratic Forces Front chaired by Salah Abu Surra.

He signed the Darfur Peace Agreement on 18 December 2006 and was appointed a governor of West Darfur region. After April 2010 elections, Abu Al-Gasim also was appointed state minister at the ministry of youth and sport in June 2010 but he defected and resided in Juba before to leave the country.

“We remained in secret contact and we had enough time to discuss things of concern related to the reunification of the Movement, political change in the country as well as, just solution for the cause of Darfur people,” disclosed Abdel Wahid Al-Nur in a telephone call with the Sudan Tribune.

“We agreed since a while that unity is the only way to achieve the inspirations of the Sudanese for peace, justice and security. Unity is also the only way to establish a modern state where politics and religion are separated and governments are democratically elected,” he said.

Al-Nur also appealed on the international community and regional countries to support politically and diplomatically the reunification of the SLM. “Because unity allows us to get, peacefully but also through the guns, the rights of oppressed people in Sudan.”

“We succeeded where the international community failed and this at least deserves their welcome and applauses,” he said.

Two other factions are also expected to join Al-Nur during the next weeks.

The rebel leader further said the SLM would develop a new approach to end the eight year conflict in Darfur and establish jointly with the other political forces a democratic regime in Sudan .

A stakeholders conference including the different political forces and the civil society group in Darfur besides the participation of the international community is expected to take place soon in Doha to assess the draft peace agreement discussed between the government and two rebel groups.

The Sudanese presidential adviser tasked with Darfur file, Ghazi Salah Al-Deen, expressed the government’s willingness to sign a peace agreement with the rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) of Tijani El-Sissi. The latter met with the Sudanese official on 19 May during his visit to Doha.

However, the negotiations with the Justice and Equality Movement are at an impasse as the government wants the rebel group to endorse a deal negotiated with the LJM and refuse to open talks on it.

(ST)