Darfur rebels accuse RSF of new attack on Jebel Marra civilians

The Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) has accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) government militia of attacking civilians in Tawila locality in North Darfur on Saturday. Three villagers were reportedly killed, and two others were wounded.

Waleed Abakar, the military spokesman for the SLM-AW, claims in a statement on Sunday that Abdallah Fadul, Mekki Abdelkarim, and Mousa Mohamed were shot dead in the area of Fanga in northeast Jebel Marra. The two wounded are Azza Shareef and Haroun Khamees.

The movement condemned the attack in the strongest terms and held what it called the “Military Coup Council” and its partners, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the “full responsibility for this attack and the loss of innocent lives”.

The statement urged the international community to fulfil its humanitarian and moral duty to protect innocent citizens, hold perpetrators accountable by forming an international fact-finding commission.

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

Splits

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Malik Agar in Blue Nile state (SPLM-N Agar), the Sudan Liberation Movement faction headed by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), was established in November 2011, by the leaders of the then four main armed movements in the country: the Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW), the SLM-MM faction, the JEM, and the SPLM-N.

They declared they would overthrow the regime of President Omar Al Bashir “using all available means“. Two small rebel groups headed by Nasreldin El Hadi and El Tom Hajo became member in 2012.The following year, the eastern Sudanese United People’s Front for Liberation and Justice (UPFLJ), led by Zeinab Kabbashi, joined the coalition.

The SLM-AW withdrew from the SRF when the coalition opted for a peaceful solution. Its founder Abdelwahid El Nur says he will only join peace negotiations after Khartoum has restored stability and security in Darfur. The United People’s Front left the coalition as well, just as SPLM-N deputy chairman Abdelaziz El Hilu and his followers in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan.

In March 2017, the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council of the movement supported El Hilu’s stance on self-determination for South Kordofan and Blue Nile state, and replaced SPLM-N leader Malik Agar with El Hilu, which paved the way for a split of the movement into two factions.

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