Darfur JEM rebukes Sudanese official remarks on Washington workshop

December 6, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on Tuesday slammed statements made by a Sudanese official in which he said that Khartoum did not participate in a Washington workshop that discussed peace in Darfur in order not to give rebel groups legitimacy.

Sudan’s former chief negotiator for Darfur Amin Hassan Omer said this week that the government did not take part because it “does not want to give these [rebel] movements a legitimacy they lack”.

JEM’s adviser on foreign relations Ahmed Hussein Adam said Omer’s statements reflect a state of “disillusion”.

“It is the regime in Sudan and its head that is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur,” Hussein said.

“Under normal circumstances we would not sit with a regime like this but for the sake of peace and because we believe in engagement we sat for negotiations. But the fact remains that the regime is inciting conflicts throughout the country” he added.

The JEM official also claimed that Omer has been privately pushing his government to participate in the workshop but his request was brushed aside.

The Washington workshop was meant to bring together signatories and non-signatories alike of the Doha Darfur peace Document (DDPD) signed last July.

Adam said that the workshop participants agreed that the Darfur problems can only be resolved as part of a holistic approach to the crises engulfing Sudan.

He further said that most of the participants also agreed that the DDPD as it stands is not inclusive and need to incorporate other rebel groups and stakeholders.

The JEM official stressed that the US role is important as ever being a major mediator between the warring sides in Sudan.

He explained that the workshop was a “good opportunity” to explain the “real agenda of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) for democracy, peace and justice”.

“We reached out to US legislators, activists and Sudanese Diaspora….People are fed up with the Bashir regime and they want real democratic change” Adam said.

JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) are part of a four-member-alliance, formally announced last month. The SRF also includes Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) and SLM led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur with a stated aim of overthrowing the regime in Khartoum.

But at the workshop the groups that are part of the SRF expressed their openness to engage in a political process with the government saying it is “their preferred means of change”.

(ST)