Community leaders urge war victim participation in Sudan workshops on transitional justice

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A number of displaced community leaders in Darfur urge the participation of war victims in workshops on transitional justice and justice, which will be launched this weekend in six regions. The workshops are part of a conference on justice that is organised by the signatories of the Framework Agreement under auspices of the AU-IGAD-UNITAMS Trilateral Mechanism. It is the fourth of five conferences that are to be held to conclude the political process started with the signing of the Framework Agreement between more than 40 civilian groups and the military junta on December 5.

Representatives of displaced people living in camps in Darfur told Radio Dabanga that they have not received an invitation to participate in the workshops.

They called for focusing the workshops on training and building the capacities of the victims, and ruled out the possibility of starting a transitional justice process before the provision of security in the region and the formation of a civilian government.

Sheikh Ishag Abdallah, Kalma camp leader and head of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees General Coordination, and Saleh Eisa, head of the General Administration of Camps for the displaced in Darfur, expressed their regret that no invitation was extended to the leaders of the displaced to participate in the workshop, stressing the importance of the workshops for the victims of the war.

Awatif Abdelrahman, the head of the Displaced Women Protection Network on the concerned authorities to submit invitations to the displaced according to their academic and professional qualifications, noting that there are PhD holders in the camps.

El Shafee Abdallah, coordinator of the Central Darfur camps for the displaced and Sheikh Daoud Arbab from the West Darfur camps for the displaced stressed the importance of transitional justice workshops for the displaced, stressing that it is not possible to start the transitional justice project without an elected government.

Displaced activist Adam Bakheet, who lives in one of the Wadi Salih camps in Central Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that he heard the news about the conference and the workshops on social media. He warned that selective invitations would create problems among the displaced.

Khartoum Conference

The concluding Transitional Justice Conference will be held in Khartoum no later than March 16, Mustafa Adam, director of El Zargaa Centre, one of the organisers, told Radio Dabanga.

He said that 100 people will participate in each of the six workshop in the regions. 30 of them will be selected to participate in the Transitional Justice and Justice Conference in Khartoum.

The participants include representatives of war victims or their relatives, displaced women and members of resistance committees, he said.

Some of the workshops will commence on Saturday, others on Sunday, Adam said.

FFC-CC to Emirates

A delegation from the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council) travelled to the United Arab Emirates on heads on Wednesday evening, as part of its visits to a number of neighbouring countries.

FFC-CC said in a statement on Wednesday that the delegation will meet with the UAE leadership in order to discuss the completion of the final arrangements for the Sudanese political process based on the Framework Agreement.

The statement explained that the UAE plays a much appreciated role within the Sudan Quartet (USA, UK, UAE, and Saudi Arabia) supporting Sudan’s transition to democracy, and that the delegation will discuss ways to strengthen strategic relations between the two countries.

Journalist and political analyst, Haidar El Makashfi, however doubts the importance of the visit for the current political process.

“Lobbying for the Framework Agreement at this time can only be called outdated,” he told Radio Dabanga.

He suggested that the reason for the visit might be to request the UAE’s help to end the animosity between Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, Sudan Armed forces (SAF) Commander and Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, and Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo, Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council.

The conference of the last and fifth contentious issue that has to be agreed on between the signatories of the Framework Agreement and the ruling junta in order to sign a final agreement on the withdrawal of the military from power, consists of the reform of the (para)military and security institutions in the country.