East Darfur governor-designate refuses to accept his new post
January 12, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The appointed governor of the newly established state of East Darfur, Abdel Hamid Musa Kasha, was absent from the swearing-in ceremonies of other Darfur officials before Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir yesterday out of anger, sources tell Sudan Tribune.
Bashir also announced the establishment of Eastern and Central Darfur states, re-appointing Kasha as governor of the first and Yusuf Tibin, a former minister of infrastructure in Khartoum State, as governor of the second.
The changes are part of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) signed by the Sudanese government and the ex-rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in a bid to end the eight-year conflict in the region.
The recommendation to divide Darfur into five states was first adopted by the 2008 Darfur People Conference in the Qatari capital of Doha, which hosted the marathon peace talks that led to the signing of the DDPD in mid-July last year.
According to sources Kasha informed senior government officials that he rejects his new position because it would mean taking over an “arid and entirely collapsed” state in terms of infrastructure, as it has a lack of outlets, headquarters and departments.
He had been promised to remain in post in South Darfur after the establishment of the new states and was therefore taken aback by Bashir’s decrees, sources said.
But Kasha could still end up assuming his position should he receive the funds needed from the government to get the state up and running.
This is not the first time Kasha has entered into a dispute with the central government. He has previously resigned from his position as the South Darfur governor following a row with finance minister Ali Mahmood Abdel-Rasool over blocking the disbursement of desperately needed cash for the state.
In a related issue, a statement signed by the Rizeigat tribe in the newly created East Darfur state slammed the central government over this weeks decree’s, describing them as unjust and a “conspiracy” orchestrated in Khartoum by influential Darfur leaders and other officials.
They called the move an “exposed plot” to “assassinate” Kasha, who is a prominent Darfuri symbol, and in the process to create strife between the states of South and East Darfur.
The statement also said that the government ignored the sacrifices made by the Rizeigat during the years of civil war with the south and instead chose to favour and satisfy other parties at their expense.
(ST)