Former rebel group denies attempt to attack Central Darfur capital

December 4, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP) led by Tijani al-Sissi dismissed reports that their troops intended to attack the capital city of ?Central Darfur State, Zalingei on Thursday.

Armed elements belonging to the NLJP on Thursday attempted to enter Zalingei to protest to the state governor against the deteriorating conditions of the former rebel fighters but the police prevented them and fired bullets on the air which created panic among the ordinary citizens.

NLJP spokesperson Ahmed Fadl Abdallah said the armed group didn’t intend to attack the commercial market as claimed by some officials, adding the group, which was comprised of 46 soldiers, was sent to discuss with the commissioner of the security arrangements implementation the reasons for the delay of their accommodation into the training camps.

He pointed in a press release extended to Sudan Tribune that the movement has received a certificate of clearance from the DRA’s security arrangement commission following bringing all its fighters to the gathering points in Nyala, El-Fashir, Al-Ginaina and Zalingei for training in prelude to integrating them into the Sudanese army.

“This move paved the way to turn the movement into a political party under the name of NLJP on February 26, 2014,” he added.

Abdallah pointed that several committees from the Sudanese army central recruitment office have arrived to the four gathering points to complete the procedures for integrating the fighters into the army.

“Since then the ex-fighters became part of the Sudan Armed Forces not the NLJP,” he stressed .

He demanded the DRA’s security arrangement commission to speed up the procedures for handing over the troops to the military areas in prelude to join the training camps.

The former rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), formed by 19 rebel factions, signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) on 14 July 2011 with its leader Sissi became the chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA).

However, last March the LJM split into two political parties following deep differences between Sissi and the group’s secretary general Bahar Idris Abu Garada. The two parties participated in April’s general elections at the national constituencies’ level.

(ST)