Abdelwahid El Nur: ‘Sudan junta, opposition kidnapped the revolution’

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) will not recognise the accords reached between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC). According to SLM leader Abdelwahid, the agreements only legitimise the power of the junta.

The Darfur armed movement led by El Nur does not recognise the agreements. “They are just power-sharing deals between remnants of the former regime and forces that kidnapped the revolution from the youth,” the rebel leader said in an interview with Radio Dabanga.

“The junta is just an extension of the ousted regime of Omar Al Bashir, responsible for the killing of people in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Kajbar, and all over Sudan.  

“The janjaweed militia, now called Rapid Support Forces, that committed crimes against the people of Darfur, are still committing the same crimes, now in the entire country.”

El Nur further said he does not have confidence in the Forces for Freedom and Change. “The group was formed only after the people revolted. The members are the same bodies that used to negotiate with the old regime.

“As a result, the slogan of the revolution 'Just fall, that’s all' disappeared. The FFC opted for legitimising the members of the junta and its militias, and now considers them partners in the revolution.”

Agreements

After negotiations brokered by the African Union, the TMC and the pro-democracy movement signed a basic power-sharing Political Charter on July 17. A week ago, the two parties agreed on the Constitutional Declaration, which outlines the powers and the relationships between the branches of the interim government.

The constitutional document, to be officially signed on August 17, will mark the beginning of the interim period led by a civilian government for three years and three months, after which elections will be held.

A Sovereign Council, consisting of 11 members, will rule the country. Five members will be from the military, five will be civilians. The 11th member will be civilian, to be selected by both parties. For the first 21 months, the president will be from the military, followed by a civilian for 18 months.

The 250-pages-long Constitutional Declaration approves the procedural immunity of the members of the Sovereign Council and the rulers of the states, abolishes the laws and texts restricting freedoms, and stipulates the liquidation of the former regime.

‘Radical change’

El Nur said his Sudan Liberation Movement “will adhere to the revolution until a radical change takes place and a real civilian authority is established”.

He explained that continuing with armed struggle is not the movement's option at this stage. “The SLM-AW will depend on popular struggle as an opposition tool, together with the Sudanese people, in order to reach this end, summarised in Just fall, that’s all.”

According to the SLM-AW leader, “The Sudanese people who forced Al Bashir to disappear from the scene are able to overthrow the junta and all other forces that hijacked the revolution in the name of the people, and pave the way for a state based on equal citizenship”.

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, a coalition of the armed movements) reached an agreement with the FFC on the peace process in Sudan in the Ethiopian capital on July 25. The SLM-AW is no part of the SRF anymore. The movement withdrew when the coalition opted for a peaceful solution instead of continuing the armed struggle. El Nur says he will only join peace negotiations after Khartoum has restored stability and security in Darfur.

Serious doubts

In his op-ed published by Radio Dabanga on August 7, Prof Eric Reeves, expresses his concerns on issues that have not been addressed in the Constitutional Declaration.

“The first, and most frequent, is that far too much power has been left in the hands of the military, now a hybrid military, with both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) nominally under the command of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. [..]

“The second criticism, voiced in various forms, is that the fundamental economic issues in Sudan—a nation struggling under the burden of an economy that has largely collapsed—are nowhere addressed with any specificity,” the well-known Sudan researcher and analyst states.

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