SPLM-N splinters form anti-war party in Khartoum
June 10, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — A dissident faction of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement –North (SPLM-N) held on Saturday its founding convention in the capital Khartoum, attended by Nafie Ali Nafie deputy chairman of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Historically Kodi belongs to a trend that was critical to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which gave South Sudanese the right of self-determination but did not bring a clear status for the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile.
Some SPLM-N members from the Nuba tribes, including Telefone KoKo who is still imprisoned in Juba, are against the leadership of Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu of the group in South Kordofan. They further say he decided to involve their region in a new conflict in June 2011 without consulting them.
The leader of the newly formed party, Kodi, told the meeting that the war waged by the SPLM-N in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states is against the interests of the people in the two regions.
“We were brave when we fought the (first) war and courageous when we turned the last war because its objectives are unrelated to the region,” he further said.
Alluding to their former comrades he added that “those who accused us of treason are the traitors because they deliver the people of Nuba Mountains to death and destruction.”
The meeting elected Daniel Kodi as leader of the SPLM-Peace and other members as deputy chairpersons including Tabitha Butrus, Yahia Hamas Philip Abdel Masseh, Rajab Al-Basha Omer, Basim Kamki and six other.
The Sudanese ruling party was supportive to the initiative and included some dissident members of the SPLM-N in the government since last December before the formal establishment of the party.
Sudan’s NCP also supported a campaign for the release of Telefone Koko who is detained in Juba. A protest demanding to free was organised outside the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum and the official news agency (SUNA) displays a banner with his picture.
Nafie in his speech before the founding meeting slammed the SPLM-N leadership and accused it of implementing foreign schemas against the interest of the Sudanese people.
He also accused Al-Hilu of using people of the Nuba Mountains to fuel the war stressing that the regime will defeat the SPLM-N rebels.
The Sudanese army and the SPLM-N are fighting in South Kordfoan since one year ago after accusations of rigging the governor elections and a letter by the Sudanese army asking the SPLM-N to disarm its troops.
The fighting in South Kordofan triggered a significant humanitarian crisis affecting thousands of Sudanese took refuge into South Sudan or displaced in other parts of the country.
(ST)