Darfur’s Jebel Marra holdout rebels join SLM-Transitional Council
This SLM-TC is currently taking part with the other SRF groups in the South Sudan-brokered peace talks to end the war in Darfur and other areas.
In a statement released on Sunday Salah Adam (Rasas) announced his merger with the SLM-TC adding that they decided, he and other commanders and political leaders, to participate with their comrades of arms in the revolutionary struggle.
“We took this decision because we believe fully in what the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council did and has been doing for the unity of the revolutionary action factions in one front,” stressed the statement.
Rasas was promoted by Abdel Wahid al-Nur to the rank of SLM general commissioner in February 2011 but he rejoined Abul Gasim Imam in 2013 after blaming al-Nur for the lack of vision and absence of institutions.
Discussions between SLM-TC leadership and Rasas took more than a year, sources close to the merger told Sudan Tribune.
The SLM-TC’s leader Monday welcomed the merger of Rasas and his comrades saying they represent a “significant addition to the Movement”.
He said that the group led by Salah Rasas includes important field commanders in Southern Jebel Marra some of them were part of Imam group and others from the SLM-AW.
Idris expected that more commanders will join their movement in the near future.
“The merger of Rasas and his group would positively contribute to pushing the peace process forward,” he stressed.
The statements included the names of the commanders and political leaders who joined the SLM-TC.
Several holdout rebel factions remain active in the Greater Jebel Marra area. The SLM of Abdel Wahid an-Nur, (SLM-AW), SLM-TC, SLM-Rasas who defected from Imam a signatory of a peace agreement in January 2017 and SLM- Salih Borsa.
(ST)