Former Darfur rebels freeze peace deal with Khartoum

One of the former Darfuri rebel factions and signatories to a peace accord with Khartoum froze the agreement in protest against the slow pace of implementation.

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction of Noureldin Zorgi announced to freeze the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) which it signed with the North Darfur state government in February 2016 because the government has not met its commitments so far.

In a press statement the group claimed that development projects have not been implemented and the faction was poorly represented in the government. The faction accused Khartoum of the non-implementation of the security arrangements, which it adhered to last year by disarming. Also, the leader of the group has not been appointed the military rank as agreed upon, nor have conditions of the leadership of the movement been adjusted.

“For all these reasons, we regret the failure to implement the provisions of the agreement from the government side and announce the freezing of the peace accord we signed with the government of North Darfur until our observations were being considered” the statement read.

Two SLM splinter factions, led by Noureldin Zorgi and Salih Adam Ishag, signed an agreement with the Sudanese government in February 2015 and became part of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur. The agreement was initially signed on 11 July 2011 between the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) of Tijani El Sese. The faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Dabajo broke away from the mainstream JEM in 2012, and signed the DDPD in April 2013.