Photo: Abdulwahid al-Nur (Photo credit: Sudan Tribune)
Abdulwahid al-Nur Explains Why He Won't Join Darfur Peace Talks
Report from SRS (Sudan Radio Service), Tuesday, 16 March 2010:
16 March 2010 - (Nairobi/Paris) - The leader of the Darfur anti-government group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdulwahid al-Nur faction, says he is reluctant to join the Darfur peace talks because the Government of National Unity does not understand the true meaning of peace.Other News From SRS (Sudan Radio Service)Click on SLM-Nur tag (here below) to view related reports and updates re the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdulwahid al-Nur faction and its leader Abdulwahid al-Nur who is in self imposed exile in Paris, France.
In an interview with SRS from Paris on Monday, Abdulwahid al-Nur said peace is not about the distribution of political influence.
[Abdulwahid al-Nur]: “I would like to confirm that we completely differ with the Khartoum government on the peace process in Darfur. The Sudanese government believes that peace means giving positions to the anti-government group’s leaders, or it believes that peace means correcting the consequences of the wrong actions they were responsible for in Sudan. But for us peace means ensuring security on the ground first, then secondly tackling the root causes of the conflict. We have a road map to achieve peace in Darfur. Peace starts by conflict suspension or security. The government should first stop the genocide against our people, disarm their militia the Janjaweed and stop the rape of our women and chase out the new settlers from Mali and Niger. The meaning of peace to us is when people feel that they are secure. But to GONU, peace is giving power to people in Khartoum and in the region and that is all.”
Over the weekend, the US Special Envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, told the press in Doha that al-Nur has wasted a "historic" opportunity to join the peace talks.
In response, al-Nur described Gration as a colonizer who ignores the conflict in Darfur.
[Abdulwahid al-Nur]: “To me, Gration reminds me of that terrible era when people used to think that Africans didn’t know how to think and they colonized them. Particularly the European colonization and the colonization of the white man. That is why he comes to terrorize people, divide them and gives them the feeling that he is a god and he can destroy them if they don’t abide by his commands. Neither Gration nor anyone else in the world can make us miss the opportunity, because we own the rights, the issues, the land and a country. This is our country and it is our right to straighten it out. We didn’t tell Gration to come and solve our problems for us, we will solve it by ourselves.”
Al-Nur accused the GONU of signing agreements without implementing them.
[Abdulwahid al-Nur]: “Have we ever refused to sign a peace agreement with the government? Earlier we went to sign a peace agreement in Abuja, we and Minni and JEM. After that, how many movements were created by the government? Even if all the movements, including ours, sign a peace agreement, and still there is no security in Darfur, there will be a new rebellion - do you think that we are the only men in the region? So peace is not a matter of signing papers. The NCP is very ready to sign any number of papers but if you go back and look at all peace agreements that the NCP has signed, how many have been implemented?”
Abdulwahid al-Nur, the leader of the Darfur anti-government group, the SLM -Abdulwahid al-Nur faction, was speaking to SRS from Paris on Monday.
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