Darfur security ‘top priority’ in Al Bashir electoral programme

President Omar Al Bashir has pledged to bring peace and restore security to Darfur through the elimination of what he called “the insurgency”, and disarming all who do not belong to the regular forces.

During a visit to West Darfur capital El Geneina on Wednesday, Al Bashir told ‘a delegation of the displaced’ that achieving security in the five states of Darfur is “top priority” in his electoral programme.

“After achieving security, we want the displaced to return to their places of origin, where we will provide them with all the services required. For those who do not want to return, alternatives will be offered. They will all be treated as first class citizens.”

He announced the establishment of a free commercial zone in El Geneina, “for all goods coming from and going to West Africa”.

‘Old lies’

The leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, and deputy chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance, Abdel Wahid Mohamed Ahmed El Nur, dismisses Al Bashir’s words as “old lies”.

“If Al Bashir is serious about restoring peace and security in Darfur, as he states over and over again, he should immediately stop the targeting of civilians by army and militia troops, the aerial bombardments on villages, and expel the new settlers on Darfuri lands,” he said in an interview with Dabanga, to be broadcast today.

“We will only believe him if he stops the genocide, strips all the Janjaweed of their weapons, and hands himself to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”

‘Fake meeting’

The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association denounced the meeting.

“As happened before, Al Bashir met with fake displaced in a fake meeting. This time, the so-called displaced announced their support for the incumbent president in the upcoming elections,” the Association stressed in a statement yesterday.

“The delegation members, who met with the president on behalf of the displaced did so without any authorisation of the people affected by the war. They represent the National Congress Party and not the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association,” the statement reads.

“They were no actual displaced but rather El Geneina residents called in for the show,” he said, “like Yousef Abdelrahman, nicknamed Arkuned, and Ahmed Suleiman Gazafi, who live in El Sawra district, Sharif Bakhit Yahya, from El Wehda neighbourhood, and Ahmed Tuja, who lives in Donki 13. People like them, including Daoud Arbab and Ramadan Adam Hussein, only represent themselves,” the association concludes.