SLM rebels say UNAMID chief is “no longer a neutral and valid interlocutor”

September 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur rebel, Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) slammed the head of the hybrid UN/African Union peacekeeping operation (UNAMID) and temporary peace mediator, Ibrahim Gambari, saying he is no longer a neutral interlocutor in the eight year conflict in Darfur.

The head of Darfur peacekeepers made recently a number of statements about the peace process in a way to reaffirm his new political role as Joint Chief Mediator (JCM) ad Interim after the departure of Djibril Bassolé who is appointed foreign minister in his country Burkina Faso.

In a press conference held in Khartoum on 14 September the JCM ad Interim said the SLM led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur is “the only one who has never been part of any peace process at all. So the international community is getting a bit frustrated”.

“It is very important for the international community to consider what need to bring to this movement that has never joined any political process at all. And if that rejection is continuous, then the international community will have to decide what to do with it,” he further said.

Reacting to this diplomatic offensive, Nimer Abdel-Rahman the spokesperson of the SLM-AW claimed that Gambari is “no longer a neutral valid interlocutor for the movement because of his ignorance of the reality and unjustified attacks against the Movement”.

“Gambari repeated his nonsense statements today in an interview with the Khartoum based Al-Sahafa daily and we regret this dangerous and un-neutral discourse against the Movement and its leadership”.

“We urge the African Union and the United Nations to reconsider his designation as joint envoy in Darfur, and we will not deal with him from now forward”.

Nimer further said the SLM-AW was part in the long peace process in Abuja but “we realised that this government is not serious in its efforts to bring peace in Darfur but use such forums for public relations and to give the international community the impression they are genuine in their efforts to reach a negotiated settlement”.

With regard to the Doha process, the rebel official said they were considering ways to join it but “we saw the forum was transformed to a factory where rebel groups are invented and prepared to sign job contracts with the government”.

The SLM-AW after the failure of Abuja talks in 2006, said it would not negotiate with the government unless the militias are disarmed and displaced civilians return to their lands and villages.

The SLM leader left Paris in December 2010 and launched a new political programme called the “New Beginning” where he appeals for a large coalition of the Sudanese opposition and the armed movements against the government of the National Congress Party (NCP).

Recently he and Minni Minnawi – the head of the other main SLM faction – signed an alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) who are fighting the government in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which lie in the border with newly independent South Sudan. The three groups vowed to overthrow the NCP regime but no political deal is yet signed with the democratic opposition in the capital.

Nimer also accused Gambari of supporting Khartoum’s policy of repression and violation of human rights in Darfur. He said the UNAMID donated vehicles to “the so called “police” or government militias used to kill people and violate women”.

Gambari stated during last week’s press conference that he had handed over 25 vehicles to the Sudanese police in the three states of Darfur to “enhance their crime prevention and crime reaction capacity”.

After signing a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in Doha on 14 July, a delegation of the rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) is now touring Darfur before the arrival of its leader Tijani el-Sissi next month.

Today, the West Darfur governor Shartai Jaafar Abdel Hakam accused the SLM-AW rebels of killing a local chief (Umda) and abducting a state legislator, a Umda and two students. He said these aggressions are part of campaign implemented by the group to deter any support to the Doha peace agreement and LJM particularly.

However, Nimer rejected these accusations saying their group had never resorted to violence against the supporters of other rebel groups. “They are not our enemy. The only enemy we are fighting is the National Congress Party” he stressed.

(ST)