Darfur Arab militia group agrees to hold off further measures pending mediation

March 10, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Revolutionary Awakening Council (SRAC) led by Darfurian Mahameed clan chief Musa Hilal announced on Tuesday that it has received communication from the presidency asking it to postpone any actions it intends to take to allow for mediation efforts currently under way in Khartoum to bear fruit.

Hilal, who was one of the main militia leaders that participated in the brutal counterinsurgency campaign during the first years of Darfur crisis, turned recently his militiamen against the governor of North Darfur state Osman Kibir and accused him of feeding tribal conflicts in the state.

He has demanded that Kibir be removed.

The notorious Janjaweed leader also started making statements critical of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), of which he is a member, and calling for deep reforms.

He left the capital Khartoum over a year ago and retreated to his hometown of Mostraeeha in North Darfur along with his troops and continued blasting the government and the NCP.

Presidential assistant Ibrahim Ghandour held a discreet meeting with Hilal in West Darfur earlier this year but neither side disclosed what was discussed.

SRAC has previously specified March 10th as deadline for the government to respond to its demands. It also threatened to prevent poll workers from entering areas under its control in North Darfur during the upcoming elections scheduled for next month.

In its statement circulated today, SRAC reiterated that it is not satisfied with the “conditions that prevail in the country and the Darfur region in particular and the conflict that now exists between the center and the periphery”.

It warned that Sudan is on the verge of a devastating war if the regime continued to ignore the legitimate demands of some sides.

The statement noted that “all SRAC bases including military commanders in border guards and Popular Defence Forces and the Central Reserve Forces and other sectors are ready to fight in this war until the last drop of blood”.

It asserted that “the regime still indulges in reckless policies towards this crisis in the country as it still incites and scatters the seeds of discord among the Arab and non-Arab tribes in Darfur across some lines that are now taking place in an apparent attempt to nip any potential movement by Arab tribes that are awakening in the horizon”.

“We are in SRAC have been and continue to seek to negotiate with all sides and parties and movements for the interests of the country, but we are exposed to the countless machinations and this not the time to disclose all of the secrets we have been hiding for fear of sedition”.

Despite Hilal’s apparent mutiny, the NCP has not taken any action against him and he still retains his post as constitutional adviser in the Ministry of Local Government and an MP.

The tribal chief stands accused by many human rights groups of leading a terror campaign against the African tribes Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

But he has denied any wrongdoing and told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited militias on behalf of Sudan’s central government.

(ST)