INTERVIEW-Sudan Islamists use Darfur as battleground -lawyer
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Sudanese Islamists are using the remote Darfur region as a battleground in a struggle for political power in Khartoum, a prominent human rights lawyer said on Wednesday.
Ghazi Suleiman, an influential Sudanese political figure, also said peace talks to end a 19-month-old rebellion in Darfur failed to address the issue of whether power in Sudan lay with the military or civilian politicians.
Suleiman is seen in Sudan as a non-partisan figure who advises senior politicians across the spectrum.
“The conflict in Darfur has nothing to do with marginalisation or the inequitable distribution of wealth,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“Inherently it is a struggle between the two factions of the Sudanese Islamist movement, the (opposition) Popular Congress (PC) party and the ruling National Congress (party).”
The PC is led by the former ideologue of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Hassan al-Turabi, who has been jailed for inciting tribal tensions in the west. Party activities have been suspended since April.
“Turabi is the mastermind of the existing conflict in Darfur. If he is released and if the government tries to come to an agreement with him he will stop what is going on in Darfur in a week,” Suleiman said, adding all the leaders of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are Turabi’s proteges.
Suleiman said the other rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) took advantage of the conflict initiated by JEM but had since developed a programme of a secular constitution and democratic rule in Sudan, which he supported.
SOVEREIGNTY IN SUDAN
After years of skirmishes between Arab nomads and African farmers in Darfur, two rebel groups launched a revolt accusing Khartoum of neglect and of arming marauding Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages.
The government admits arming some militias to fight the rebels, but denies links to the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.
Peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja to end the conflict collapsed last week.
“Abuja would never address the main problem, which is where sovereignty rests in Sudan. Is it with the military or a democratic system?” he said, adding the rebels wanted power in Khartoum. “So there is no way for the success for any talks between the (Darfur) rebels and the government.”
The talks should resume but focus on forging agreement on the provision of aid and holding a ceasefire, he said.
The government says a U.S. declaration of genocide in Darfur and a U.S.-drafted U.N. resolution threatening sanctions on Sudan if it does not stop violence, encouraged the rebels to become intransigent at the talks.
Suleiman said the word Arab in Darfur was almost an insulting term, denoting nomads with no civilisation or homes.
He stressed the conflict in Darfur was not ethnic, adding the government controlled only about 20 percent of the Janjaweed and were incapable of disarming them.
“We need at least (African Union) 6,000 soldiers to hold the ceasefire and to keep law and order. The Sudanese government itself cannot keep law and order in Darfur because it is not controlling Darfur and … because they are part and parcel of the problem,” he said.
The AU has about 150 observers and 300 troops to monitor the ceasefire.
He said the scorched earth policy seen in Darfur violated human rights, but the rebels shared the blame as they sought shelter and food from the villagers, who were from the same tribes, thus attracting fire from the armed forces.