LJM fighters prevent Abu Garda from holding conference in S. Darfur

January 11,2014 (NAYLA) – Armed men from the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) prevented the secretary general of the former rebel group, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, from holding a symposium in Nyal, the capital of South Darfur state on Sunday.

LJM combatants who arrived to the venue of the conference in 4 vehicles, grabbed the microphone from the speaker who was presenting Abu Garda ,and forced him to cancel the meeting while Aby Garda left hall quickly.

It was reported that the fighters arrived from Abu Domayah camp for the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of LJM combatants outside Nyala.

Heated discussions erupted between Abu Garda’s bodyguards and the fighters and almost led to clashes between the two sides.

One combatant said they were angered by Abu Garada’s statements when he said that people in Abu Domayah camp do not belong to the former rebel group.

Military commander and LJM head of security arrangements at the camp, Abdel-Karim Bakheit, condemned Abu Garada’s remarks saying the latter refused to withdraw his statements and to apologise.

The LJM is composed of different factions that broke away from the Justice and Liberation Movement (LJM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).

Bakheit said that as military commanders they do not want to let political divergences impact the military leadership “but (Abu Garda) went far and insisted to describe us as militiamen”.

Before to leave the hall to the house of the governor, LJM secretary general refused to comment on the incident.

The deputy chairman of the group in South Darfur, Emad-Eddin Mohamed Osman said what happened is the expression of anger among the military commanders for the delay of security arrangements implementation.

From his side, Bakheit added that Abu Garada dispatched “ 3400 militiamen” to join the integration of the second batch of LJM forces. He added they came to the venue of the symposium to ask about the identity of these militiamen that joined the camp.

Osman said the meeting was cancelled due to the death of al-Sissi’s wife, denying that the incident was behind the cancellation.

However, he said the discontent among LJM fighters is “natural” because they are waiting since three years for the implementation of the security arrangements.

West Darfur governor, Haider Galu Kuma, who chairs LJM security arrangements committee recently said they want to finalise the accords signed with the governments and to register as a political party before to participate in April general elections.

Galu Kuma further accused Abu Garda of obstructing the implementation of the security arrangements.

(ST)