Conflicts among former Darfur rebels escalate

Disagreements among members of the ex-rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), led by El Tijani Sese, have escalated to an unprecedented level. With the upcoming Sudanese 2015 general elections, LJM Secretary-General Bahar Idris Abu Garda intends to transform the movement into a political party.

The spokesman for the LJM, and Sudanese Minister of State, Ahmed Fadul, publicly accused certain groups within the movement of seeking to obstruct the implementation of the security arrangements as stipulated in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD). He pointed to Secretary-General Abu Garda as the main instigator.

The LJM, formed in 2010 by 19 breakaway factions of the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement, signed the DDPD in 2011 with the Sudanese government. Yet, simmering conflicts about the delayed implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme seem to have divided the movement.

Political party

In a press conference organised by the pro-government Sudan News Agency in Khartoum on Sunday, Abu Garda said that the LJM, “immediately after the integration of the first batch of ex-rebels in the regular army, formally informed the political parties’ registrar about the transformation of the LJM into a political party”.

He admitted that “the challenge facing the group is transforming itself into a political party in this narrow interval of time of elections”.

Abu Garda stressed that his group does not intend to split from the movement, pointing out that “differences can be resolved within the institution”. According to the secretary-general, the performance of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), headed by El Tijani Sese, “has not achieved the level required”. He added that the ending of the DRA’s term “will not affect the continuation of the implementation of the security arrangements”.

Field visits

At a press conference held at the DRA office in Khartoum on Sunday, the chairman of the Security Arrangements Commission, West Darfur state Governor Haidar Galokuma, said that the implementation of the security arrangements was supposed to be completed 45 days after the signing of the Doha peace document in May 2011. He attributed the delay to the lack of financial means, and to the standpoint of some LJM leaders, who called for the postponement of the DDR implementation.

Galokuma explained that in response to the decision of the NJM Leadership Council to postpone parts of the security arrangements, the 19 LJM factions had formed a committee that stressed the urgency of the implementation in the field. “The committee embarked on field visits, including the LJM camps in South and East Darfur, to follow up the implementation of the DDR programme.”

The governor acknowledged that “there are differences in visions within the movement”, but he ruled out that they may lead to a split. He urged Abu Garda “to sit down, and engage in dialogue, to to unify the floor, and prevent further conflicts”.

He added that he and LJM leaders were not informed about the press conference given by LJM’s secretary-general in Khartoum at the same time.