Sudanese militia arrests Darfur rebel commander
March 8, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese government Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Thursday said they captured Suleiman Marjan a historical rebel commander in North Darfur.
Marjan “confessed that he was recruiting young people and children for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Libya,” said the agency.
The rebel commander was one the historical commanders of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in North Darfur. He participated in several rounds of the peace talks in Abuja and UN-sponsored meetings for peace in Darfur after the failure of the 2006 peace deal.
Following the SLM split into two factions one led by Minni Minnawi and the other by Abdel Wahid al-Nur, he distanced himself from the rift but remained close the SLM-AW. After what he formed with another commander, Jarel-Nabi Abdel-Karim an ephemeral group labelled SLM- field commanders.
In February 2011, he was appointed by Abdel al-Wahid al-Nur as the chairman of the SLM Revolutionary Council, but he was relieved from his position in November 2017.
Col Abdel Rahman al-Ja’ali said they arrested the rebel commander while he was preparing to travel to Libya after an arduous pursuit.
A report by a team of UN independent experts last December 2017 pointed that rebel groups and former rebel commanders are involved in the lucrative human trafficking from Darfur region to Libya.
Malha district, which is located in the remote area northern area of North Darfur, is a gathering point for the migrants who seek to cross the border to Libya through Kufra town in Libya.
(ST)