JEM-Bashar leadership to arrive in Khartoum within three weeks
August 27, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The leadership of the former rebel Justice and Equality Movement-Bashar (JEM-Bashar) will arrive in Khartoum within three weeks to inaugurate the implementation of a peace agreement signed with the government last April.
However, the killing of its leader Mohamed Bashar on 12 May near the Chadian border delayed the implementation of the agreement as the group had to reorganise itself and elect a new leader, General Commander Bakheit Abdallah Abdel-Karim (Dabajo) was subsequently appointed as Bashar’s successor.
The advance delegation of the former rebels – led by deputy chairman El-Tom Suleiman Mohamed – arrived in Khartoum on Sunday 25 August evening from their remote base in North Darfur.
In a press conference held in the capital on Tuesday, Mohamed reiterated the group’s commitment to fully implement the signed agreements, also thanking the Chadian government and Qatar for facilitating the negotiations.
JEM-Bashar’s secretary of presidential affairs and deputy head of the advance delegation, Nahar Osman Nahar, told Sudan Tribune that Dabajo will arrive in Khartoum from the Chadian capital Ndjamena, where he will meet with president Idris Deby.
“Dabajo will thank president Deby for all the support we received from him personally to achieve a peace agreement with the Sudanese government”, Nahar said, adding that a high-ranking Chadian official would accompany him to Khartoum.
Mohamed told reporters that the leadership plans to renegotiate the terms of the implementation matrix agreed last April, stressing that security arrangements and the integration of their combatants will top the discussions.
Nahar said the delegation was scheduled to meet with Sudanese government officials, political forces and foreign diplomats in Khartoum, before touring the Darfur region to explain the signed agreements and generate more support for the DDPD.
He stressed that the breakaway group would continue to urge the international community to step up pressure on JEM to release some 20 leading members captured following the killing of Mohamed Bashar and his deputy, Suleiman Arko Dahiya.
The delegation met on Monday with Amin Hassan Omer, the head of the DDPD implementation follow-up office, and held two meeting on Tuesday with the head of Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), Tijani El-Sissi, and the Qatari ambassador in Khartoum.
El-Sissi, in statements after his meeting with Mohamed and Nahar, welcomed the arrival of the advance delegation, adding they will strengthen political partnership at the national and regional levels and boost the implementation of the Doha document.
In line with the power-sharing agreement signed between the Sudanese government and JEM-Bashar, the former rebels will be allocated two national ministerial portfolios, five DRA ministries and commissions, a deputy speaker of the DRA legislative council, five state ministers and five commissioners, as well as some seats in the DRA legislative body.
(ST)