Darfur rebel groups’ disarray hinder peace
By Amil Khan
CAIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Internal differences, conflicting goals and a lack of coordination among Sudanese rebel groups are obstructing international efforts to reach a peace agreement with the government over Darfur, diplomats and aid workers say.
Two rebel groups launched an uprising against Khartoum in early 2003 and accused the government of arming Arab militiamen to loot and burn villages to stamp out the rebellion.
The conflict has killed 50,000 people, displaced more than 1 million and left about 2 million in need of aid. The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
International bodies, including the African Union, persuaded the two sides to agree a ceasefire in Chad in April, and to sit down at peace talks in Ethiopia in July, which broke down after the rebels set preconditions that the government rejected.
The rebels have since said they were just requests, not preconditions for talks. But some say disarray among rebel ranks, mixed messages and the different agendas of the two main groups have frustrated efforts to resolve the conflict.
“The factionalism of the (rebel) leadership almost derailed talks in N’Djamena and set back the talks in Addis Ababa,” said one AU official working on the Darfur issue.
A Western diplomat based in Khartoum said: “I doubt they are both reading from the same hymn sheet.”
Other analysts say as international pressure on Khartoum builds, rebels are content to drag their feet in peace negotiations in the hope of winning greater concessions.
The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), with around 40,000 fighters each, took up arms against Khartoum charging the government had neglected the vast region the size of France.
The government turned to the existing Janjaweed militias, drawn from the nomadic Arab population, as auxiliary forces to suppress the rebels and non-Arab villagers considered to be their allies.
MIXED MESSAGES
Khartoum denies supporting the Janjaweed but have agreed to try to disarm them under threat of possible sanctions by the United Nations.
The AU has moved ahead on a tandem path, proposing another round of peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria on Aug. 23, but there is uncertainty over whether the rebels will attend.
On Thursday the two groups said they would attend the talks, but a JEM official said the date was unsuitable.
The response follows a pattern of often contradictory rebel statements from spokesmen who change frequently.
“It’s a dilemma and, as the time for Abuja talks comes closer, I imagine it will get worse,” an AU official said.
“This is particularly a concern with JEM … SLM is easier to deal with. The problem with them is less acute,” he added.
“With JEM we have had splinter groups claiming to talk for the whole group … it’s difficult to know who talks for the group.”
Rebel leaders, who have consistently angled for foreign intervention in Darfur, say reports of infighting amongst the leadership were part of a government ploy to discredit them.
“There are mistakes sometimes from some officials who say things that are not our policy,” said SLM Chairman Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, blaming that on poor communications.
He said he was the overall leader of the group and took the final decision in political matters. But another SLM leader, Minni Arcua Minnawi, had previously told Reuters he was the leader of the group, also known as the SLA.
“It is often unclear who speaks for the group or what section of the group they speak for. It is also unclear who speaks for the group at all and who doesn’t,” said one aid official who deals with SLM leaders on a regular basis.
STRENGTH IN UNITY
John Prendergast, a Sudan expert in Washington, said if Khartoum found the will to make the concessions for peace, including addressing rebel demands for wealth and power sharing, consensus among rebels would become all the more important.
“It is a problem of personality (between leaders), largely driven by how quickly the rebels were made to confront what their agenda will be,” said Prendergast, special adviser to the International Crisis Group president for Africa.
If the rebels failed to find internal cohesion they would be unable to negotiate with the government on key issues, Prendergast said. But he stressed the initial responsibility towards finding a political solution was with the government.
The SLM holds territory in Darfur and observers say it is made up of three of the area’s main tribes with substantial support among Darfur’s settled farming population.
But a recent split is said to have left JEM’s Europe-based political leadership with little control over events in Darfur. The government accuses JEM of links to jailed Sudanese Islamist Hassan al-Turabi, who hosted Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.
Turabi was once a powerful figure in the Islamist government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir but is now one of its most prominent opponents. Khartoum says his Popular Congress has funded JEM rebels, who deny the claim.
The situation is also complicated by outside influences.
SLM and JEM are believed to have received weapons from sympathisers in neighbouring Chad with tribal affiliations to the groups. Both movements have recently opened offices in Eritrea’s capital Asmara. Khartoum has accused its neighbour Eritrea of supporting the rebels and of training rebels.