Faction of Nur's SLM says DPA needs no additional clauses - main issue delaying signing is compensation to IDPs

IPP Media report June 5, 2006 via ANDnetwork .com says a delegation of the rebel faction SLM that refused to assent to the Darfur Peace Agreement on Friday appealed to its leader, Abdulwahid Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, to sign the document. Excerpt:

Speaking to journalists here, members of the delegation said they were in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to convey the desire of all the people of Darfur for peace and express gratitude to the African Union (AU) for its efforts to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

"The major reason for our leaders not to sign the peace agreement is about compensation to the internally displaced persons who have lost everything (as a result of the fighting)," said Issa Mohamed Adam, political advisor in Abdulwahid's constituency.

"This is the main issue delaying the signing of the agreement," he said. "I am convinced that one day we will sign the agreement because we cannot be excluded from the peace process of Darfur."

The faction's delegation includes field commanders and representatives of political offices and IDP camps. The authorities in Khartoum supported their trip to Addis Ababa, Issa said.

They expressed gratitude to the international community, the United Nations and its specialized agencies as well as non-governmental humanitarian agencies operating in Darfur.

They also appealed for continued support for the IDPs and refugees in order to facilitate their safe return to villages once peace returns in the region.

"In the Movement, we don't have dispute with our leaders. We think this peace agreement needs no additional clauses.

We are convinced that we cannot gain anything from the war while the international community is calling for peace," said Mohammed Abdallah Abdulkhalid, a member of the faction's political bureau.

According to Issa, the widely held impression that Mini Minawi, who signed the DPA, led the largest group of SLM/A was a distortion of the facts on the ground.

"We would like to correct the information about which group is major in the Movement. We represent the majority of the population in Darfur and we are active in three states of the region, North, South and West.

"We are fixed in our original movement that was set up in 1992 and that is the major one under the leadership of Abdulwahid" Issa claimed. "If the leader does not sign the peace agreement, we'll sign it ourselves".

Drnovsek and Prince Albert II agree on resolving Darfur crisis - JEM leader still in Slovenia?

Photo: Leader of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim speaks during a meeting with Slovenia's President Janez Drnovsek in the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Wednesday, May, 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Denis Sarkic)



Photo: Slovenia's President Janez Drnovsek, the head negotiator of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Ahmed Tugod Lissan, JEM meber Abdulahi Osman El-Tom, and the leader of Sudan's Democratic Union and former Governor of Darfur Ahmed I. Diraige, from left to right, talk in the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tuesday, May, 30, 2006. The meeting between Drnovsek as a mediator and representatives of the JEM will try to find a solution that would allow the rebel groups and Sudanese government to sign the a peace deal for Darfur. (AP Photo/Denis Sarkic)

I say, the story of Slovenia hosting a delegation of Darfur's JEM rebels gets stranger by the day. Slovenia's President Janez Drnovsek and Prince Albert II of Monaco on 31 May repeated their call on the need to solve the situation in Darfur, with the prince again expressing his support for Drnovsek's endeavours to bring peace to the Sudanese region, Slovenia Business Week (Slovene Press Agency STA) reported June 5, 2006 - excerpt:

The pair also agreed that cooperation between the two countries is excellent, with Drnovsek pointing out that the prince was accompanied by a strong business delegation, which discussed improving economic relations with their Slovenian counterparts.

Prince Albert also revealed his wish that Monaco open up to Mediterranean countries which are "practically my neighbours", stressing that the principality has been for the past five years active in Slovenian projects on the preservation of cultural and natural heritage.

Drnovsek added that cooperation between the two countries is a proof that even small countries can change things for the better. He also observed that Monaco is active in a variety of humanitarian activities, including the support for Slovenian missionary Pedro Opeka in Madagascar.

Prince Albert also commented on gaming, explaining that the industry has had a long history in the principality and never caused excessive problems.

Photo: Head negotiator of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Ahmed Tugod Lissan, JEM leadership member Abdulahi Osman El-Tom, JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim and Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, from left, talk during their meeting in the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Wednesday, May, 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Denis Sarkic)

June 1 2006 Despite Slovene efforts, Darfur JEM refuses to sign peace

June 2 2006 Darfur's JEM rebel leader says "We're going to have our own country"

June 2 2006 Senior members and field commanders of JEM and Nur's SLM/A faction ask to sign Darfur Peace Agreement

SLA Team set to arrive in Khartoum next week, followed by SLA leader Minnawi week later, to commence implementation of Darfur Peace Agreement

UN Security Council starts its mission in Sudan late today aimed at brokering peace for Darfur and convincing Khartoum that a UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur was not tantamount to an invasion force:

Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, during a stopover in Frankfurt on the flight to Khartoum, said Sudanese leaders felt they needed more time to pull together their government, following a power-sharing agreement last year with former southern rebels. "We have to be a little bit understanding -- not soft, but understanding," he told Reuters.

China's UN ambassador Wang Guangya agreed, saying a recent council resolution ordering Sudan to allow in the UN planning teams disappointed Khartoum.

Instead they had expected to be complimented for their flexibility in negotiations with Darfur rebels, not all of whom have signed the accord.

Some Sudanese fear NATO soldiers among the UN force and believe any mandate under enforcement provisions in Chapter 7 of the UN Charter constitutes an invasion. Chapter 7 is cited in nearly all U.N. peacekeeping operations.

"Those who speak about the US invasion of Iraq should speak about the US invasion of Iraq," special UN envy Lakhdar Brahimi, told a recent news conference in Khartoum. "But when you speak about the United Nations, then please talk about the U.N. as you know it (and not) as if it is coming to invade," he said.

JEM's leader might still be away in Slovenia. As noted here earlier, Chad's President Deby said he cannot allow him return to Chad if sanctions are imposed on rebel leaders refusing to join Darfur peace deal.

Yesterday, the African Union rejected calls for peace negotiations to be handed over to the UN, saying the deal should not be held hostage by recalcitrant factions - AFP/Gulf Times reported today:

"We cannot hold the Darfur Peace Agreement hostage to those who did not sign, we have to go ahead and start implementation because the situation in Darfur can't wait," AU spokesman in Khartoum Noureddine Mezni said.

Rebels had until May 31 to agree to the peace deal, drawn up in Abuja on May 5, or face UN sanctions, but only one faction of the main Sudan Liberation Movement signed ahead of the deadline.

The AU declaration came after the dissident SLM faction on Saturday said the bloc had failed in its efforts to broker an end to the three-year conflict in western Sudan and called on the UN to take over.

"This document was prepared and finalised in tight consultation with international partners including the UN, the European Union and the Arab League, as well as many national governments," Mezni said.

"The document was witnessed by all of them, and the institutions endorsed the document as balanced and just. The document is African and international at the same time. We have done the maximum possible."

The holdout SLM faction led by Abdul Wahed Mohamed al-Nur said on Saturday it had rejected the whole peace agreement after AU mediators failed to include its demands.

One month has passed since Darfur Peace Agreement was signed by SLA rebel leader Minnawi and Government of Sudan.

"I have the advance team which should be in Khartoum next week and after that we will prepare to go there," SLA leader Minnawi told Reuters in el-Fasher, the main town in Darfur, today:

"When we signed the peace we requested the AU forces to come here ... I think the UN forces have the right to come here ... to protect the civilians," he said. Minnawi said he saw no difference between AU and UN troops, except that the UN force would have better logistics and more resources.

He also said he was not worried about the thousands of Darfuris in Khartoum and across the region who have been protesting against the signing of the deal because the other rebels did not sign. "With ... time everyone will recognise that the peace is for them, the peace is for the Darfuri people," he said.

"The modalities in the agreement ... are timelined and also there is a plan supposed to be adopted by the AU ... All these things are progress towards disarmament of the Janjaweed."

Yesterday, SLM insurgent leader Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur failed to meet Kiir and Minnawi for peace talks.

An official spokesman of the SLA, Esam Eddine al-Haj, said that Minnawi had actually arrived in Yei and met Kiir. However, he said he was unable to contact Minnawi to find out the outcome of the discussions.

Al-Haj, who is based in Italy, said a delegation from Minnawi's SLA would arrive in Khartoum within the next two weeks, followed by Minnawi, to implement the Abuja agreement.

[Sudan Watch Ed: For the purposes of using keywords to search the archives of this blog, I refer to Minnawi's faction of Darfur rebel group SLM/A as "SLA" (something Reuters does too) because he appears to run the military side of the movement -- and al-Nur's faction of the SLM/A as "SLM" or "Nur's SLA faction" because he appears more political and claims to represent the interests of a larger number of Darfuris. Also, in order to search items relating to Minnawi, I maintain the spelling of his name as "Minnawi" - same goes for "Janjaweed" and "Gaddafi". If Nur signs the peace deal, I guess the movement may be referred to as SLM/A. Question is: who will I be referring to as the leader of the SLM/A? My view is the Darfuri people are not aware of the contents of the Darfur Peace Agreement. Maybe al-Nur is being selective in his translation of it? Maybe he has promised his people more than can ever be delivered in one go? Many Darfuris can't even read or write - how do they know they are not being hoodwinked simply to serve the greedy ambitions of one man? Same goes for JEM. Then there are days, when I read reports of rebels in eastern Sudan, I wonder if all of the Sudanese rebels are part of one group, conveniently splitting into factions and playing two ends against the middle in order to appear they genuinely want an end to the suffering of their people. Backward barbarians. Janjaweed and all. Give them an inch and they take a mile. No wonder the Sudan is ruled with a stick. It's a wild country, the size of Europe.]

UNITED POWER ...



Even animals can sometimes find together way... (Photo Vit Hassan, Sudan)



Photo: Sandstorm over pyramids in Bajrawia (Vit Hassan)

SLA rival Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur failed to meet Kiir and Minnawi for peace talks

On Thursday it was noted here at Sudan Watch that Sudan's First VP Kiir was to meet SLM/A's Minnawi and Nur (and maybe JEM leader) within 72 hours.

Today, Reuters' Opheera McDoom reveals:

Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir had travelled to Yei in southern Sudan on Friday to try to reconcile Minnawi and his SLA rival Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur.

But Nur refused to attend the meeting, leaving the others waiting for two days.

On Saturday Nur's faction told Reuters in Nairobi the AU had failed to mediate the conflict and called on the United Nations to take over the peace process.

"The African Union mediation team has failed to realise peace in Darfur," said Nouri Abdalla, an adviser to Nur.

I agree with Drima of Sudanese Thinker when he says:

There's no honour in the way he and the others carried out their rebellion. UN & AU Keep Your Word! and enforce the sanctions you've been talking about all along.

Note May 18 2006 Reuters report - JEM leader will have to leave Chad if he does not sign Darfur peace deal by May 31 - "Deby told Khalil that if he does not sign by May 31, he must leave Chad because the AU and UN are sanctioning non-signatories. Khalil was surprised," said a Western diplomat in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

Jun 3 2006 TEXT- Press Release by Nur's SLM regarding AU Mediation.

UN not asked to broker deal

The African Union has rejected calls for negotiations on reaching peace in Darfur to be handed over to the UN, saying the deal will not be held hostage by recalcitrant factions.

The AU spokesperson in Khartoum, Noureddine Mezni, said: "We can't hold the Darfur peace agreement hostage to those who did not sign; we have to go ahead and start implementation because the situation in Darfur can't wait." - AFP

June 3 2006 SLA's Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur rejects the whole Darfur Peace Agreement, wants UN mediation

June 3 2006 Al-Mahdi calls on Darfur rebels to adopt "civil jihad" to press Khartoum into convening all-inclusive conference

June 4 2006 SLA rival Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur failed to meet Kiir and Minnawi for peace talks

President of South Africa says a just resolution of conflict in Darfur must be based on the repudiation of any winner-takes-all-approach

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Thabo Mbeki May 16, 2006. Excerpt:

In his book, Mansour Khalid wrote: "In the case of Sudan, the mainspring of war has been iniquitous attempts by one group to gain immoderate advantage over a presumed rival under the pretence of enhancing 'national' acquirements narrowly perceived."

In this light, Sudan's war may fairly be traced to a sense of perverted nationalism that never cared to keep the mean between two extremes. Invariably, perverted nationalisms are driven by a winner-take-all inclination. On no account do they put up with relinquishing a little; they always hunger for taking all.

"This acquisitiveness invites, as a matter of course, retortion by those who suffer most from its consequences either to reparate injuries or end injustices (real or perceived). Those root causes of conflict, if not identified, recognised and dealt with, inescapably fester and burst."

A just resolution of the conflict in Darfur, and all the other historic tensions that have affected Sudan, must indeed be based on the repudiation of any winner-takes-all approach, which makes it impossible to build the inclusive societies that are the only condition for the achievement of peace, stability and national unity and reconciliation in all African countries.

Everything must be done to expand the reach of the agreement Signed in Abuja on 5 May, by ensuring that all Darfurians are persuaded to board the Sudanese peace train. Africa, and not only Darfur, Sudan and Chad, has great need for that piece of good news.

Sudan welcomes Libyan role in eastern Sudan Peace Talks Eritrea June 13

Presidential Advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail said that Sudan welcomed Libya's role to try and bring about a peaceful settlement to eastern Sudan crisis, Sudan Tribune reported today. Excerpt:

He said that Sudan affirmed that the government of national unity was ready to go to Eritrea and embark in talks with the concerned parties as was agreed upon during Vice-President Ali Osman Taha's recent visit to Eritrea.



Photo: The signing of the procedural arrangements for eastern Sudan peace talks, Asmara, May 25, 2006 (ERINA)

The Sudanese government and the rebel Eastern Front Thursday 25 May signed in the Eritrean capital an agreement on the procedural arrangements for their coming negotiations. The parties agreed to start talks on June 13.

The agreement called on Eritrea to play the role of the mediator in the coming negotiations between the two parties.

Sudan during long time insisted on the Libyan mediation for the Eastern Sudan peace talks. It accepted the Eritrean mediation last April and since different measures adopted to prepare the talks in Asmara.

Further reading

Feb 28 2006 UN says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms to Sudan's Darfur rebels and SPLM/A provided training and arms to SLM/A

Apr 26 2006 Sudan Tribune - Officials to Eritrea to prepare for East Sudan talks

May 14 2006 Letter to Editor of The Arab American News - Darfur, Eritrea and "the road to peace in the Horn of Africa runs through Asmara..."

Jun 1 2006 Reuters: Sudan asks for more African troops in Darfur-Libya

Jun 2 2006 Sudan Tribune Libya's Gaddafi warns of NATO intervention if Chad and Sudan don't return to normal

Jun 4 2006 Sudan Tribune (Khartoum) Rebels reject NDA participation in Eastern Sudan talks - Eastern rebels rejected the participation of the National Democratic Alliance in the expected peace talks with the Sudanese government within two weeks, saying that their former ally is now part of the national unity government.

Head of AU Mission in Darfur needs immediate extra funds and 5,600 more troops - AU said donors would only fund 4,000 troops

June 4, 2006 Reuters report by Opheera McDoom - excerpt:

The African Union force charged with observing a ceasefire in the wake of a very fragile Darfur peace deal must be given immediate extra funds and 4,000 more troops, the AU mission head in western Sudan said.

"This agreement has been a very fragile one extracted under very severe conditions -- it was like extracting something from a lion's jaw," Collins Ihekire, the military head of the 7,000-strong AU mission in Darfur, told Reuters on Sunday.

"We must be empowered now to make sure that we can minimise any problems," he said, adding if the deteriorating security situation worsened it would be difficult to get the parties back to negotiations.

Ihekire said he had wanted an extra eight battalions, or around 5,600 troops. But the AU said donors would only fund another five battalions -- 4,000 troops.

Donors will meet on June 20 in Brussels to pledge more funds for the cash-strapped mission, which the United Nations hopes to take over if it can win agreement from Sudan.

"What is preventing us is ... lack of ability on the ground," Ihekire said.

"It is due to a paucity of resources," he said, adding he did not have enough troops to secure the region the size of France.

He said the fact that only one rebel faction had signed the deal would be an obstacle to implementation. Efforts are still ongoing to get the other two factions to sign.

Note, June 1 2006 What's going on? AU Mission in Darfur costs $1 billion a year - SA troops in Darfur still waiting to be paid: EU said there was no delay in funding- - -

May 30 2006 VOA Misinformation about Darfur Peace Agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU peacekeepers - AU media campaign urges Darfuris to support peace

Chadian army, rebels battle near Sudan border - Is RDL/FUC leader Mahamat Nour dead or alive?

Chadian army, rebels battle near Sudan border - Sudan Tribune June 3, 2006, excerpt:

A Chad military source said the rebels were under orders from a former ally of Deby, Timane Erdimi, who turned against the president in December 2005 and has since become the head of an opposition movement.

The statement added that Mahamat Nour, the brains behind the United Front for Change (FUC) rebel group, had died from a heart attack in Dubai on Friday. It gave no further details.

Regarding Mahamat Nour, contradictory reports suggest also he is detained in Khartoum by the Sudanese security service.

Photo: Chadian rebel group FUC leader Mohamat Nour.

Note, a comment posted at Sudan Watch Jan 13, 2006 by unknown author of Genocide au Darfour, blog tells us:

"The commander in charge of the massacres in Darfur is called MAHAMAT NOUR ABDELKRIM. The "captain" Mahamat Nour, ex-officer of the chadian army, has commanded the Jandjawids with the sudanese logistic. He has been the principal planner of the genocide in Darfur. Thanks to his chadian nationality, he was used as an alibi by the Sudanese government."



Jan 14 2005 Chad-Sudan: A third rebel movement the NMRD has appeared in Darfur: The NMRD claims to be a breakaway movement from JEM, one of the main rebel groups in Darfur. NMRD leader said his group broke away from JEM in April last year because it disagreed with Tourabi, an Islamic fundamentalist politician, over the rebel movement.

Jan 28 2006 Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, West Darfur - NMRD Darfur rebels attack Sudan army base in Arm Yakui

Feb 12 2006 Reuters exclusive interview: Mahamat Nour the Chad rebel leader demands change, by force if needed

Feb 20 2006 Two Chadian army generals desert, join rebels

Apr 2 2006 Mohamat Nour's Chadian rebel United Front for Change (FUC) aims to depose Chadian president Deby

Apr 10 2006 FUC in eastern Chad mount fresh offensive to get to N'Djamena and oust Chadian President Deby

Apr 11 2006 BBC Chadian rebels raid central town

Apr 11 2006 Propaganda war in Chad aimed at sowing fear and panic

Apr 12 2006 BBC Chad rebels 'advance on capital' - The BBC's Stephanie Hancock in N'Djamena says people in the capital are going to work as usual, but are not sending their children to school in case of unrest.

Apr 13 2006 Analysis: Conflict in Chad has roots in Darfur - by Africa correspondent of The Times.

Apr 14 2006 Tripoli Agreement: Leaders of Chad and Sudan on the evening of Wednesday 8 Feb 2006 signed a peace agreement in Tripoli, Libya under which they promised to immediately expel armed groups hostile to their respective governments. See Apr 10 African military monitors now on Sudan-Chad-CAR border.

Apr 16 2006 Sudan Tribune (Paris) Chad's rebels say govt using mercenaries, deny Sudan support: Darfur is in the throes of a civil war pitting Janjaweed militia loyal to the Sudanese government against rebels, some of whom come from the same Zaghawa ethnic group as Chadian President Deby. The FUC is alleged to be supporting the Janjaweed militia in Darfur. On Saturday the FUC and MDJT faction accused Deby's regime of recruiting fighters from among the Darfur rebels. "We have proof - we have captured several prisoners from Darfur's armed rebel movement," they said. The two groups also accused Deby of recruiting European mercenaries to fight them, with the help of former French gendarme Paul Barril. Barril denied the charges.

Apr 23 2006 Chad rebel prisoners say Sudan recruited them: "The Sudanese intelligence people were our contacts ... they were always dressed in civilian clothing," Colonel Adoum Maratis, a captured rebel commander who said he came from Central African Republic, told reporters. "We were given transport, communications. We were well equipped," Maratis said, adding that around 1,200 fighters in 75 pick-up trucks were involved in the attack on N'Djamena. Maratis said he was recruited four months ago in Khartoum at a meeting with rebel chief Mahamat Nour.

Apr 23 2006 Jan Pronk Weblog FUC, RaFD, SCUD - Chadian rebels had good contacts in W Darfur

Jun 4 2006 Sudan Tribune (Paris) Sudan releases Chadian rebel leader Sileick - Sudan arrested Sileick to support his rival Nour: Chadian rebel leader Mahamat Sileick released by Sudan has refugee status in France and says FUC's (formerly known as RDL) Nour is close to Sudanese security service.

Chadian rebel leader Mahamat Sileick released by Sudan has refugee status in France and says RDL/FUC's Nour is close to Sudanese security service

Sudan Tribune report (Paris) May 30 2006:

The released Chadian rebel leader said Tuesday that Sudanese authorities had arrested him to help his rival in a Chadian rebel group to unify Chadian rebels and overthrow Deby regime.

Sileck was detained without charge since October last year in Dabak prison, Khartoum. He has a refugee status in France.

In a statement to Radio France Internationale (RFI) Mahamat Sileick who is freed by Sudanese Authorities at the end of the last week, said the main objective of his detention was create favorable conditions for his rival in the Alliance Nationale de la Resistance (ANR), Mahamat Nour to create a large opposition movement against Chadian president Idriss deby.

My presence in the ANR was impeding Nour's project at that time.

In late October 2005, shortly after Sileck was arrested, Mahamat Nour formed the Rassemblement pour la Democratie et la Liberte (RDL), composed overwhelmingly of former ANR members. It is widely reported that the RDL, shortly after its creation, received a significant increase in military assistance from the Sudanese government.

In late December, following the high profile attack on Adre, Mahamat Nour formed a new umbrella movement composed of seven other Chadian armed opposition groups opposed to President Idriss Deby, called the Front uni pour le Changement Democratique au Tchad (FUC). The RDL remained the key player within this group. The FUC launched a coup attempt on 13 April 2006 from eastern Chad on the Chadian capital, N'Djamena.

Sileick who is currently in a secrete residence outside the Sudan, said Nour is very close to the Sudanese security service. "These people believed he can be helpful in the realization of their project to topple down president Deby".

Sileick release comes after a campaign in favour of his liberation in which many French MPs are involved. The French Foreign Ministry since last March disclosed that Paris had engaged a series of contacts with the Sudanese authorities about him.

TEXT- Press Release by Nur's SLM/A regarding AU Mediation

Click here to read the text of SLM/A press release dated June 3, 2006 regarding the AU Mediation. It opens by saying, the SLM/A has exhausted all avenues to realise peace in Darfur through the AU mediation.

See June 3 2006 Reuters report SLA's Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur rejects the whole Darfur Peace Agreement, wants UN mediation.

Al-Mahdi calls on Darfur rebels to adopt "civil jihad" to press Khartoum into convening all-inclusive conference - Unused water and Roseires Dam

Sadiq al-Mahdi is the last elected prime minister of Sudan. He led a coalition government until he was toppled in a coup in 1989. The man who overthrew him was military officer Omar al-Bashir, who is now Sudans president.

The below copied report quotes Sadiq Al-Mahdi as saying elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water. Unused water? How interesting. Horrendous fighting goes on in the Sudan over the shortage of water for drinking, farming and livestock. As noted here at Sudan Watch many times before, water is key to the future development of the Sudan. Excerpt from Small-hydro Atlas:

Sudan needs to implement new hydro projects to overcome energy shortages and to reduce dependence on imported oil. Integrated Nile Basin development would allow for better use of the water resources of the Nile, increasing, electricity production. An interconnected power grid, involving hydro plants in the Upper Nile basin and the Egyptian grid could solve problems of instability and insufficient capacity supplied to the country.

June 3, 2006 KHM report (Khartoum) Sudan Tribune. Copy:

Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, told over a million of his supporters at the town of Sinja, Blue Nile State that everyone should work to rid the Sudan of its problems.

He called on Darfur rebels to adopt what he termed "civil jihad" in order to press Sudanese government into convening an all-inclusive conference to realize just peace and install a national government to conduct fair elections.

Al-Mahdi welcomed all peace agreements but said that the way these agreements were signed would create dissension and discord as they were not built on national base.

States should be given their shares in power and wealth and boundaries of the states should be demarcated in accordance with their existing boundaries in 1956, Al-Mahdi added.

He lashed out at the government's policy of lifting health subsides, its exploitation of power for partisan purposes and its agricultural and industrial policy which has led to unprecedented deterioration in agriculture and industry.

Al-Mahdi compared Sudan to Nigeria, "the government is replicating Nigeria's experience where people were deprived of the fruits of oil."

Elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water, he added.

Further reading

Jun 1 2005 DPA - Sudanese opposition leader to boycott interim government.

Apr 25 2005 Sudan Tribune - Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister called for a South African model: Sadiq Al-Mahdi is an Oxford educated economist and, at 31, was the youngest Prime Minister of Sudan and the last to be democratically elected. He says Sudan is at the stage that South Africa was when the former president FW de Klerk freed Nelson Mandela.

May 7 2006 Sudan Tribune - Sudanese opposition describes Darfur deal as flawed : Umma Party Secretary General Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said the Abuja deal "hinges on temptations" after failure of reaching agreement with the armed groups in Abuja noting that this deal should be discussed on a Darfur-to-Darfur negotiation table.

Sudan's Dinka back home after 20-year journey - 90,000 displaced southerners in Darfur, 25,000 have returned

June 3, 2006 UK Independent report by Tristan McConnell in Kiir Adem, South Darfur:

Joseph Dut is going home after years on the move. He fled his home in southern Sudan in 1983; now the cycle of violence is returning him once again.

He is one of thousands of southern Sudanese who escaped to the western province of Darfur during the 21-year civil war, only to flee south again now due to the fighting there.

The banks of the river Kiir have been home to thousands of southern Sudanese for the past few months as destitute and hungry people flee Darfur. They are predominantly Dinka people, traditionally cattle-herding Africans, but Sudan's wars robbed them of their cows long ago.

The Kiir's 100-yard-wide stream of swampy chest-deep water marks the difference between safety and danger in this disputed border area between north and south Sudan.

The trading centre of Kiir Adem is little more than a strip of dirt with a ramshackle collection of wooden frames and grass roofs. Here, Mr Dut sits on a small pile of his belongings. "When the Arab militias came to the town we were in, shooting, we ran," recalls Mr Dut. "They took everything, so we left."

In a continent of sometimes ungovernably large countries, Sudan is the largest. It has been torn apart by civil wars since independence from Britain in 1956. While the fighting in Darfur continued, the war between Khartoum and the south ended in January 2005, after 21 years and two million deaths.

People such as Mr Dut were pushed from pillar to post. For many, it is the first time they have returned in more than two decades.

"After leaving the south we lived for some time as refugees in Libya, and then we moved back to Sudan, to Darfur," says Mr Dut. In Darfur he - with his wife and five children - worked as a farmer on the arid land and slowly rebuilt their lives. Then the Janjaweed militia came earlier this year, shooting AK-47s, burning houses and looting. Again, Mr Dut was on the run.

Mr Dut is one of 11,000 southern Sudanese who have travelled from the state of South Darfur through Kiir Adem into the neighbouring state of Northern Bar el-Ghazal in the past three months, fleeing attacks by the Janjaweed militias blamed for the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

The conflict in Darfur threatens an already shaky peace agreement in the south, monitored by a 10,000-strong UN force.

Next week, a UN Security Council delegation will visit southern Sudan, Khartoum and Darfur to assess the country's continuing troubles.

Nick Horne, a UN official in Aweil town in Northern Bar el-Ghazal, estimates that of the 90,000 displaced southerners in Darfur, 25,000 have so far returned. "Some of those returning now left because of the fighting, some because of the famine in 1987," he said.

This week, the migration of displaced people will all but stop as the rainy season begins in earnest. But for Mr Dut and his family, more than 20 years of fleeing conflict are at last over. Once again he will be starting to rebuild his life, but this time he is at home. "Home is always home. Even though there's nothing here, I am happy," he says.
- - -

June 4 2006 Scotland on Sunday - Sudan refugees seek home in Israel.

SLA's Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur rejects the whole Darfur Peace Agreement, wants UN mediation

This is what the Darfur rebels have wanted all along, for UN mediators to replace AU mediators and for the UN to take over the AU Mission in Darfur. The following report by Reuters points out what has been said by the UN all along, that the demand for UN mediated talks is unlikely to be met as the UN has supported the AU and the accord it brokered. Excerpt:

"The African Union mediation team has failed to realise peace in Darfur," said Nouri Abdalla, an adviser to Nur.

"The whole Darfur file, with regard to resolving the conflict in Darfur, we are asking the United Nations to take over the file," he told Reuters in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The demand is unlikely to be met as the United Nations has supported the AU and the accord it brokered.

"The SLA has decided that any extension to the deadline to sign the proposed DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement) is a waste of time and unacceptable," Abdalla said.

"We asked for supplementary documents to be attached to the proposed DPA, and if that happened, our key fundamental demand, we were going to sign it," Abdalla said.

"What we are saying right now is that we are rejecting the whole agreement altogether."

He said the AU had failed because it was selective in applying pressure on the rebels to sign the peace Darfur deal.

- - -

June 3 2006 Aljazeera/Agencies report - Darfur rebel faction rejects AU role: "The AU has absolutely and miserably failed in its efforts to mediate the fighting in Darfur," said Nouri Abdalla, an adviser to al-Nur. "It is time it hands over the whole Darfur mediation file to the United Nations."

NATO Update: UN's Jan Egeland visits NATO

NATO Update May 30, 2006 confirms UN aid chief Jan Egeland, discussed Darfur and the role of the military in disaster relief during a visit to NATO on 30 May:

Mr Egeland met NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to discuss NATO's continuing support for the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

NATO recently agreed to extend its assistance to the African Union until September this year. This Alliance is helping to airlift African Union peacekeepers in and out of Darfur and training its forces.



They also discussed likely NATO support for a possible UN-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, after the mandate of the current African Union force ends in September.

[via News Blaze]

UN-AU mission leaves for Darfur in next few days

UN News Centre report June 2, 2006 - excerpt:

A joint United Nations-African Union team will head early next week to Darfur to assess the needs of the AU's peacekeeping mission there as well as the possible transition to a UN force, a senior United Nations official said today.

"This mission will be leaving in the next few days and will assemble in Addis in the first part of next week, it will then travel on to Khartoum as a joint team from UN-AU team," Hedi Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, told reporters after briefing the Security Council.

The mission will conduct consultations with the Sudanese Government before going to Darfur "to meet with the local authorities, establish contact with them, look into the requirements of AMIS (the AU Mission in Sudan) to enable that force to perform the additional tasks foreseen for AMIS under the Darfur Peace Agreement," he said.

"The mission will also conduct an assessment of the requirements of the transition to a UN peace operation" should such an operation be established, he added.

While the Government has agreed to the deployment of an assessment team to Darfur, it has not yet agreed to a transition to a UN operation. "I think that is it is understood that we are conducting the assessment mission without prejudice to the decisions that will need to be taken by the various actors involved - the Government of Sudan, the AU and the UN Security Council," Mr Annabi said.

"We have tried to make it clear to them that for us, the main purpose of that force would be to assist in the implementation of the provisions of the Darfur agreement," he noted. "In other words, a peacekeeping operation whose sole purpose would be to assist the parties who have concluded the agreement to bring back peace to that long-suffering region of Sudan."

Sudan to Establish Joint Integrated Forces With Ex-Rebels

The following copy of a news report features on the website of the Embassy of Sudan, Washington, D.C., USA.

NEWS STORY Monday, May 22, 2006

Text of report in English by Sudanese newspaper Khartoum Monitor website on 22 May

Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) chief of staff and deputy chairman of the Joint Defence Board (JDB), who is also the chairman of the current session of the JDB, General Oyay Deng Ajak, chaired the JDB's third meeting yesterday at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Khartoum.

The spokesperson for the JDB, Maj-Gen Majdhub Rahama, in a statement to Khartoum Monitor disclosed arrangements for preparing a 15,000 joint integrated forces shared equally by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the SPLA in order to function as an international force if required.

Rahama denied a dispute between the two parties saying there were only minor outstanding points which would be settled later. He explained that all matters related to the implementation of military provisions of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) had been thoroughly discussed, adding that a committee has been formed for the redeployment of forces and the resolution of all their problem.

"The most important issue discussed in the meeting has been the building of trust among combatants," Rahama stated, confirming that implementation would be preceded by an integrated survey. The JDB meeting is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Source: Khartoum Monitor website, Khartoum, in English 22 May 06

Darfuris say peace deal incomplete - 'We stay for 100 years in camps'

Deutsche Presse-Agentur report June 2, 2006 El Fasher, Sudan.

Senior members and field commanders of JEM and Nur's SLM/A faction ask to sign Darfur Peace Agreement

June 2, 2006 IRIN report - just in:

Senior members of the two rebel groups that earlier refused to accept a peace deal aimed at ending hostilities in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur have now expressed interest in signing the agreement.

Around 40 delegates from Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur's faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - including field commanders and political officers - are in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to request the African Union (AU) to allow them to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), which their leaders failed to sign before the 31 May deadline.

Representatives of both rebel groups told journalists on Friday that they had decided to sign the peace agreement in order to end the crisis in Darfur.

"We have suffered a lot from the crisis. We came here to express our support for the peace agreement. We are not against our leaders' reasons not to sign the peace agreement, but we urge them to join the peace agreement," said JEM field commander Abdela Abdela Bakt.

While awaiting further instructions from the AU regarding the modalities that would allow them to sign the DPA, the two factions asked the pan-African body to give their leaders additional time to sign the agreement.

"We would like to ask the AU to give additional days for our leaders to put their signature. If they fail to do so again, we will sign the peace agreement," said Mohammed Adam Basi, political advisor to the SLM/A. "On our part, we are ready to sign it any time, as soon as the AU finalises the mechanisms."

AU says dissident rebels behind deterioration of security in Darfur - Faction of JEM ready to sign peace deal

Chair of AU Commission, Alpha Konare, blamed the two holdout groups of being behind what he described as the "progressive deterioration of the security situation in Darfur."

A dissident faction of the JEM merged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, saying it accepted the peace agreement.

"We already discussed all of the decisions with the African Union and now we are ready to sign the Darfur peace agreement," said Col. Abdul Majid Hassan, who said he leads the movement's faction is South Darfur. It was not immediately clear how much support Hassan's faction enjoys. - AP report June 1 via ST June 2, 2006.