‘Darfur movements cannot be disarmed’: Minni Minawi

The Head of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) faction, Minni Minawi has ridiculed the government's announcement of starting to collect weapons in Darfur.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga on Monday, he said: “If the Government is serious about what it says, the process of collecting weapons can take place in less than two weeks without the need for all this public shouting in the media”.

Minawi’s comments come against the backdrop of the current visit by Sudan’s Vice President, Hassabo Abdulrahman, who is touring Darfur to launch the campaign of collecting unlicensed firearms, and vehicles.

Minawi said that “the government knows very well how many weapons have been distributed in Darfur, how many have been delivered, how many and where they have been stored, and how many four-wheel-drive vehicles have been used.

“The civilians in Darfur have no weapons as only the Government, its militias and armed movements fighting the Government do,” he added.

Disarming armed movements

Regarding disarming the armed movements in Darfur, he said that is not possible.

He stressed that the movements will not hand over their weapons until after the restructuring of the Sudanese army and the security services.

He said that the Sudanese state would be restructured by a political agreement between the Sudanese and civil political forces to agree on the establishment of a constitutional conference comprising all the states of Sudan to establish rules on how to govern Sudan and distribute power, wealth and citizenship without discrimination.