Sudan: Darfur rebels JEM & SLM join SAF against RSF

Report from BBC News

By James Copnall & Danai Nesta Kupemba

Dated Friday, 17 November 2023 - here is a copy in full:

Sudan civil war: Darfur's Jem rebels join army fight against RSF

IMAGE SOURCE, AFP  Image caption, 

The Sudanese army has lost control of key bases in the last few weeks

Two rebel groups from Sudan's Darfur region say they will fight alongside the army in the country's civil war.

This comes after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) made major gains in Darfur, where it has been accused of ethnic cleansing.

Rebel leader Gibril Ibrahim told BBC Newsday they "want to defend their civilians" from the RSF, which he says has been burying people alive.

He said the decision to join forces with the army was not an easy one.

The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) said it had taken seven months to come to an agreement.

The relationship between Jem and the Sudanese army is fraught. Mr Ibrahim's brother was killed by the army, who was previously the group's leader.

Jem and the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) took up arms in Darfur in 2003, accusing the government of marginalising the region's black African communities.

The government then mobilised Arab militias against them, leading to what has been described as the 21st Century's first genocide.

These militias have since transformed into the RSF, which has been fighting the army for control of the country since April.

The RSF has taken several key towns in Darfur in recent weeks, including the country's second biggest city, Nyala.

Last week, there were reports they had massacred hundreds of people in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina.

The RSF has denied responsibility for the killings, saying they were part of a "tribal conflict".

A joint statement from Jem and the SLM read: "We have announced ending any neutrality and joining the military operations at all frontlines without hesitation."

Jem and the SLM are not as strong as they used to be, but their entry into the Sudanese civil war is significant.

Both Darfuri rebel leaders signed a peace deal in 2020, and have since been closer to the Sudanese military than would once have seemed possible.

It is possible JEM and SLM will see their ranks swell with new recruits - increasing their importance on the Sudanese political scene.

In joining the fray now - after months of professed neutrality - they seek to defend their support base in Darfur, in particular the Zaghawa ethnic group both men come from.

They will also have concluded that an RSF victory would be disastrous for them, and Darfur.

Mr Ibrahim expressed concern at the RSF's advances, saying he feared Sudan would end up divided.

There are fears it could declare its own government in the impoverished war-torn western region.

The international dimension is significant too.

The Zaghawa are present in Chad as well as Sudan, and dominate Chadian politics. Mr Ibrahim and others have accused Chad of supporting the RSF.

He will be hoping that he can use his connections - including with Chad's leader Gen Mahamat Deby - to cut any ties between Chad and the RSF.

More on Sudan's conflict:

Ethnic cleansing committed in Sudan, UK says

What is going on in Sudan? A simple guide

'I saw bodies dumped in Darfur mass grave'

'I gave birth and kept walking to escape Sudan terror'

Sudan's army: Outnumbered on Khartoum's streets

Why an accountant has taken up arms in Sudan

West Darfur governor killed after genocide claim

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67450204

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Related reports

 

JEM leader Jibril Ibrahim and SLM-MM leader Minni Arko Minawi address the press conference in Port Sudan yesterday (Photo: JEM) 

Source: Radio Dabanga report Nov 17, 2023 - see here below.

Radio Dabanga - November 17, 2023

Darfur armed movements renounce neutrality in Sudan war

The Sudan Liberation Movement under leadership of Minni Arko Minawi (SLM-MM), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Jibril Ibrahim, have announced their renunciation of the neutrality pledged in the September 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, and their preparedness “to participate in military operations on all fronts without hesitation”.

Full story: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/armed-movements-renounce-neutrality-in-sudan-war

Sudan Tribune - November 15, 2023

Key Darfur groups join Sudanese army in its war against RSF paramilitary forces

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) led by Minni Minawi and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have jointly announced their active involvement in military operations alongside the Sudanese army against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Full story: https://sudantribune.com/article279446/

Sudan Watch - July 19, 2023

Chad's Deby met Sudan's Finance Minister JEM leader Ibrahim. JEM leaders secretly met RSF commander

Note, the leader of Darfur rebel group JEM, Gibril Ibrahim, is Sudan's Minister of Finance. He was appointed to the post by Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok in a cabinet reshuffle 8 February 2021.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/07/chads-deby-met-sudans-finance-minister.html

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In Chad, as in Sudan, tragic stories and soaring needs

Article at World Food Programme
By Elizabeth Bryant
Dated 24 July 2023 - here is a copy in full:

In Chad, as in Sudan, tragic stories and soaring needs

‘This is the price innocent people pay for war’ – WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain urges the international community to step up to help the ‘injured and malnourished

Sudanese refugee Hiba from West Darfur, Chad, survived hunger and deadly violence that has swept her homeland. 

Photo: WFP/Marie-Helena Laurent

They arrive in Chad by the thousands, the vast majority women and children crossing a desolate wind-swept border from Sudan. Some come on rickety carts and vehicles piled high with hastily gathered belongings; others by foot, with just the clothes on their backs. 

Many also bring with them horrific tales of killings and other abuses by assailants they cannot forget.  

“They took everything,” said 23-year-old Hiba from Sudan’s West Darfur region  (her real name has been withheld for her protection). “Money, food, clothes. They even killed relatives, friends.”

Three months of ferocious fighting in Sudan has displaced more than 3 million people, killed and injured thousands of others and fed already alarming hunger numbers, including in neighboring countries. Of those fleeing Sudan, an estimated 330,000 refugees and returning nationals have poured into Chad alone, swelling a refugee population that is already the largest in West and Central Africa. 

“The people I spoke with on the Chad-Sudan border told me absolutely heartbreaking stories of their dangerous journey, and of loved ones they lost along the way,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain, during a visit to Chad last week with United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain during a visit to Adre, Chad. 

Photo: WFP/Julian Civiero

“Too many are injured and malnourished,” she added. “This is the price innocent people pay for war – what these people have been through is unacceptable, and the world must step up and help them.”

WFP is rapidly scaling up food and nutrition support, reaching roughly 164,000 new arrivals from Sudan to date, with plans to expand further to reach up to two million people countrywide in the coming months.

In Sudan, WFP has delivered food and nutrition assistance to more than 1.4 million people, despite daunting challenges. But continued fighting and access restrictions by warring parties make it extremely difficult for us to reach the millions more caught up in the conflict. That’s especially the case in West Darfur, where there are alarming reports of atrocities against civilians. 

Women who have fled Sudan's conflict receive WFP food assistance in Zabout Refugee camp in Chad. Photo: WFP/Marie-Helena Laurent

With fears that Sudan’s conflict could escalate further, potentially destabilizing the broader region, support for WFP food assistance in places like Chad – which can help maintain peace and stability – is more important than ever. 

“The global community faces a decision point,” said McCain. “We either act now and stop Chad from becoming another victim of this crisis that has gripped the region, or wait and act when it’s too late.”

Today, the mounting needs far outpace our available resources. In Chad, WFP plans to reach 2 million refugees and vulnerable Chadians with emergency assistance. But we cannot even assist half of them due to insufficient funds.

“In all my years with WFP I’ve never seen crises at this level with such little financing," said WFP's country director for Chad, Pierre Honnorat.

Thousands of conflict-displaced people have ended up in displacement camps in Adre, Chad. Photo: WFP/Julian Civiero

Some of the new arrivals are severely injured, some children so malnourished it is too late to save them. 

Meanwhile, seasonal rains in Chad risk cutting off key supply routes for food and other life-saving humanitarian supplies.

“It's no longer about giving them hope or safety,” Honnorat said. “They need to eat every day. The situation is really critical.”

Even before Sudan's conflict broke out, Chad faced soaring hunger. Today, a projected 1.9 million people countrywide are struggling with severe food insecurity during the June-August lean season between harvests. Around 1.3 million children are acutely malnourished, with some of the highest rates in refugee communities. 

Many of Sudan’s newly displaced have ended up, for now, in camps around the eastern Chadian border town of Adre.

Many of those crossing into Chad have been wounded in Sudan's conflict and some children are severely malnourished. 

Photo: WFP/Marie-Helena Laurent

Children chase each other around the newly erected stick-and-tarp shelters that dot a desert landscape recently greened by rains. Women in colorful robes wait patiently for WFP food distributions.

Inside her tent, Hiba cradles an infant daughter as she recalls her family’s flight to safety from West Darfur’s capital of El Geneina, where some of the worst violence has occurred. 

“They did such horrible things,” she said of the attackers, adding, “the most important thing is health and security – and even more important is food.” 

“We can see that they have suffered, many lost family members,” said WFP’s  Honnorat of the new arrivals, roughly 90 percent of whom are women and children. 

“You don't even dare ask that, 'Where are the men?'” he adds.  “You know the answer from others – that often they were killed.”

Abuobida, whose last name has also been withheld for his protection, counts among those men who made it out of Sudan alive. Like Hiba, he is also from El Geneina. He too lost friends and family in the fighting.

“They came to kill people, so they were on the road with motorbikes, with guns and with cars,” he recalls. “They entered houses and they took people’s things.”

During his journey to safety, he saw dead bodies along the roads. Abuobida arrived in Adre last month, alone and destitute. His family later joined him. 

He points to a small sack of sorghum and a pile of clothes inside the family’s tarp tent. “We don’t have anything else,” he said.

’They came to kill people,’  says Sudan refugee Abuobida of assailants in his home region of West Darfur. Photo: WFP/Marie-Helena Laurent

Many of those arriving have serious injuries. Children especially are malnourished. The most severe cases are hospitalized, with WFP providing temporary units for a makeshift hospital and medical logistics. But for some of the sickest, it’s too late. 

“Every week, children are dying,” said WFP’s Honnorat, stressing the importance of early malnutrition prevention and treatment.  

As Sudan’s conflict enters its fourth month, there is no reprieve either for Chad. 

“It’s a serious crisis,” Honnorat added, “and the problem is many more people are coming.” 

WFP urgently requires US$157 million to assist some 2 million people in greatest need in Chad and to stabilize a deteriorating situation. 

Learn more about WFP's work in Chad and Sudan click here to DONATE

View original: https://www.wfp.org/stories/chad-sudan-tragic-stories-and-soaring-needs

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UNITAMS: Situation in Darfur, Sudan 3 Aug 2023

UNITAMS is gravely concerned about the severe impact of the fighting between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) supported by Arab militias and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on civilians in the Darfur region.
More in this statement 👇https://t.co/JmlGFKEoFN pic.twitter.com/2nUd8FF0ud

— UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan (@UNITAMS) August 3, 2023

HERE is a copy of above tweet by UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan (@UNITAMS) August 3, 2023 incase the tweet disappears:

UNITAMS is gravely concerned about the severe impact of the fighting between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) supported by Arab militias and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on civilians in the Darfur region. More in this statement.

3 Aug 2023 STATEMENT BY UNITAMS ON THE SITUATION IN DARFUR

The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) is gravely concerned about the severe impact of the fighting between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) supported by Arab militias and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on civilians in the Darfur region. 

UNITAMS strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting of civilian populations and public facilities by the RSF and allied militias, particularly in the locality of Sirba, 45 kilometers north of El Geneina in West Darfur, from 24 to 26 July 2023. The Mission is also concerned by similar incidents in Nyala, South Darfur, and Zalingei, Central Darfur.

“I am alarmed by reports indicating that civilians are being prevented from leaving for safer areas, resulting in numerous casualties. These reports are reminiscent of the violations committed in El Geneina, West Darfur, last June”, says Volker Perthes, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNITAMS.

“We are documenting all the violations and I recall that these heinous acts are serious violations of the human rights of civilians and may constitute war crimes under international law. I remind all parties involved to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to ensure the safety and protection of all civilians”, adds Perthes.

UNITAMS urges all forces engaged in hostilities to cease their military operations immediately and call on them to resume the Jeddah-facilitated talks and reaffirms its commitment to support and facilitate efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict throughout Sudan. 

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Darfur and remain dedicated to achieving lasting peace and stability in the region”, concludes Perthes. 

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