Former JEM-Bashar rebels granted presidential pardon

October 22, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – President Omer Al-Bashir has granted an official pardon to former rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement Bashar group who signed a peace agreement with the government on 6 April in Doha.

The presidential decree issued on 22 October paves the way for the official participation of the former rebels in the national government and regional institutions in Darfur.

An advance delegation led by the deputy leader of the group El-Tom Suleiman Mohamed and the secretary of presidential affairs Nahar Osman Nahar is in Khartoum since 25 August of this year.

JEM-Bashar leader, Bakheit Abdallah Abdel-Karim (Dabajo) who is currently in Ndjamena, is expected to arrive to the Sudanese capital soon, but no date has been communicated.

In accordance with the peace agreement signed under the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), two members of JEM Bashar will be appointed ministers in the national government and five others will join the government of Darfur Regional Authority.

The group broke away from the Justice and Equality Movement headed by Gibril Ibrahim in September 2012. Its former leader Mohamed Bashir was killed in May 2013 during clashes with the main stream near the Chadian border.

(ST)