Sudan slams countries saying Bashar’s killing was unintentional

June 18, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has slammed the position of some countries for refusing to condemn the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for the killing of a former rebel leader who signed a peace agreement with the government in Doha last April .

Mohamed Bashar, late leader of JEM-Sudan, a group that splinted in September 2012, was killed with his deputy Suleiman Arko Dahia near the common border between Chad and Sudan on 12 May. His group said their “peaceful convoy” was attacked inside the Chadian territory while JEM rebels on the other hand said Bashar attacked their position inside the Sudanese territory

Amin Hassan Omer, head of Darfur peace follow-up office, met on Tuesday with an investigation team formed by the UN Security Council to probe the circumstance of the death of Bashar .

After the meeting, the state minister told the official SUNA that the international Implementation Follow-up Commission (IFC) in a meeting held in Doha on 4 June called to “hold accountable JEM-Gibril Ibrahim faction and all the perpetrators of violence and to bring them to justice”.

He further said the IFC underlined that the killing of Bashar and aides was intentional and premeditated aiming to dissuade other rebels interested in peace and to destabilize regional peace.

“Those who say that the assassination of (JEM- Sudan) leaders was unintentional have their own agenda and the government know about their relation with the rebel JEM which committed this crime”, he stressed.

Following the Doha meeting, it was reported that some western countries, said that Bashar was killed during a battle with JEM rebels and refused to consider them as terrorist group as Khartoum demanded.

Sudan accuses some western capital of supporting the rebel groups through South Sudan and Uganda in order to bring down the regime of president Omer Al-Bashir.

He further urged the United Nations Security Council to hold accountable JEM rebels, stressing that Chad is serious in its efforts to track the Sudanese rebels and to bring them to justice for the murder crime committed in its territory.

The international special envoy for Sudan/Darfur gathered on 17 June in El-Fasher where they participated in the fifth retreat to discuss ongoing efforts to settle Darfur crisis. The meeting was organized by Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UNAMID chief and joint peace mediator.

The annual meeting included diplomats from Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Morocco, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, United States of America, United Kingdom, European Union, African Union, and the United Nations.

The participants in their communiqué said they “took note” of the ICF’s communiqué, adding that “the killing of JEM-Bashar leader Mohamed Bashar should not impact negatively on the peace process”.

They also called on the holdout rebel groups to resume peace talks with the government and expressed their support to the efforts of the joint mediator to “revitalize the peace process” and to reach a comprehensive peace in Darfur.

On the other hand, the office of the Darfur general prosecutor announced on Tuesday that they indicted 18 people of the killing of Bashar and his deputy.

The general prosecutor however pointed out that they would not disclose for the time being the names of the people accused of the murder, stressing that the investigators are still collecting evidences against them.

(ST)