Articles and Analysies
Darfur Movements need to unite to alleviate people’s Suffering By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
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Aug 10, 2010 - 12:26:47 PM

Darfur Movements need to unite to alleviate people’s Suffering

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

Whereas all the world in its  various denominations (the United Nations - African Union - and all the global humanitarian organizations)  have united and got moved by their  human conscience when they heard and saw the extent of  destruction that occurred in the Sudanese region of Darfur and the size of atrocities  experienced Darfurian IDPs, refugees, the survivors of the genocide;, the sons of Darfur in the armed movements insisted not to  unite because, regrettably, some of them have fallen prey to the National Congress Party (NCP) Government's policy of divide and rule as well as to the  temptation of fake  jobs and the glitter of  money.

Seven years of suffering endured by innocent civilians at the hands of the racist (NCP) military regime which continues to subject the survivors of the genocide into further killing, rape, displacement, starvation, disease, deprivation of education and healthcare and forced repatriation under gunpoint to in the middle of nowhere This systematised ethnic cleansing and genocide exercised by the fugitive Marshal Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague is intended to force the people of Sudan in Darfur to surrender and leave and forget their legitimate rights and their just cause in humiliation and disgrace forever and ever. However, political analysts and those who are keen to help and concerned about the fate of the Darfur region say that the only way to avoid that happening is for the movements to abandon their anticipated personal gains and unwarranted differences to unite their efforts for the elimination, and finishing off the common enemy which are the elements of the Government of National Congress Party (NCP). That is the only way for the restitution of rights and justice from the criminals in the Government of the National Islamic Front or the NCP (NIF/NCP) led by their president, the fugitive from international justice, General Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir whose ultimate will be like that of his fellow génocidaire dictators such as former Liberian president Charles Tailor, former Vive – President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic who has been indicted for his Sarajevo and Srebrenica crimes. Only Almighty God knows whether the destiny of some of those enemies of mankind may be similar to that of the former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, who died of a heart attack in 2006 before his own trial.

Finally, the people of Sudan in Darfur who are Internally Displaced Persons  (IDPs) residing in the cbu Shouk, al-Salam, Ardamata, Kutum, Otash, Murne’, Riyad, Mershing, Zalingei, and the refugees in the camps in Chard such as Touloum and others say that to err is “Human, to forgive Divine” but to continue in the same vein is a sin”.  The people of Sudan in Darfur who live in the makeshift camps and face adversity round the clock, seven years on, appeal to their kin and kith who took up arms for the just cause to restore the usurped rights , to Unite in any form; let it be integration, cooperation or Broad-based National Front.

Unity and unification of efforts of the Movements is timely at this juncture; given the ‘Peace from Within’ the malignant plot hatched by the National Congress Party (NCP) regime recently.

The peace from inside is thought to be a brainchild of Ghazi Salahaddin who, I believe, remembers very well the outcome of the peace from the inside, which the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime tried during the 1990s with Dr. Riek Machar and Dr. Lam Akol both of whom were offered jobs allegedly addressing the rights of the people of Southern Sudan. The result was abject failure of attempt and the return of Machar and Akol to the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) under the leadership of the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005). Nevertheless, it remains to be one of the tasks and devilish plans of the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) apparatus which used to fail consistently. Regrettably, also involved in this conspiracy is the puppet Darfurian group  allied to the government of Sudan (GoS) that was created on Tuesday 23^rd February 2010 in Doha in the Gulf Arab State of Qatar. It is known as Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) to be led by the UN Economic Commission for Africa staffer, Tigani Sessei who turned overnight as a  rebel. The Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) has now replaced the Janjaweed militias who have learnt the lessons and ended their notorious contract with the government of the National Congress Party (NCP) since the days of the infamous pipes market scandal of al-Fasher. The Janjaweed Militia managed to earn more than twenty billion Sudanese pounds against funds allegedly invested by their leaders in the market. The Janjaweed leaders, being above the Law, they would not obey the orders of the Minister of Justice.

In order to implement their devilish plans of peace from inside, the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is carrying out a brutal campaign of arbitrary detentions, torture, and mental and physical intimidation and killings against the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) residing in squalid quasi concentration camps of Kalma in Southern Darfur state and Hamidiyya in Western Darfur state. This continues whilst the international community especially the UN only offers lip service in a state of AWOL (Absent without Leave)! In the circumstances, it is onus on the part of the two major rebel groups, Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) and , the Sudan Liberation Army/ Abdel wahid (SLA/AW) to intervene forcefully to defend their people while the Joint AU-UN force in Darfur still lacking crucial equipment and mandate to protect the IDPs.

Observers are asking ‘Isn’t it time for the leaders of the movements in Darfur to UNITE to alleviate the chronic suffering of their people?’ and Will Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, Take Actions Not Words?  Those are the Sixty Four Dollar ($64) Questions, anxiously wait for answers!

Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected]