Former Darfur rebels threaten to leave government
Former rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) is threatening to suspend its participation in the government if their grievances are not acknowledged within 24 hours. LJM signed a peace treaty with Khartoum in 2011 but it says the government is delaying its implementation. In line with the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) former rebel fighters are entitled to be absorbed into the national armed forces or to be assigned to political posts, for example. Earlier this month, Radio Dabanga reported that members of the Ceasefire Commission of LJM claimed not receiving their salaries for one year and they had threatened to quit the peace treaty if the issue was not resolved. A minister of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) said the arrangement’s implementation was delayed because signatories are not able to discern the troops who joined the treaty before and after it was signed in 2011. However, LJM spokesman dismissed the minister’s claims soon after. The 24-hour ultimatum to suspend LJM’s participation in the government was conveyed in a letter from the group’s head Dr. Tijani Sese to the first Vice-President of Sudan Ali Osman Taha. Sese is also chairman of DRA, which was created within the framework of the peace treaty and it is tasked with implementing the agreement. The body comprises former rebel fighters as some of its members. Furthermore, LJM is furious over Khartoum’s move to close the International Republican Institute (IRI) and expelling its staff without consulting the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), Sudan Tribune says. IRI is working with Sudan to support the implementation of the DDPD and is working with DRA-appointed LJM members to provide training on the skills essential to their duties as legislators, as stated on its website.File photo: 14 July 2011: Ceremony of the Signing of Agreement between The Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement for the Adoption of the Doha Darfur Peace Document, at the Sheraton Hotel, Doha, the state of Qatar (Olivier Chassot/ UNAMID) Related: Darfur’s LJM denies claims of Doha security arrangement delay (3 April 2013)
Former rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) is threatening to suspend its participation in the government if their grievances are not acknowledged within 24 hours. LJM signed a peace treaty with Khartoum in 2011 but it says the government is delaying its implementation.
In line with the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) former rebel fighters are entitled to be absorbed into the national armed forces or to be assigned to political posts, for example.
Earlier this month, Radio Dabanga reported that members of the Ceasefire Commission of LJM claimed not receiving their salaries for one year and they had threatened to quit the peace treaty if the issue was not resolved.
A minister of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) said the arrangement’s implementation was delayed because signatories are not able to discern the troops who joined the treaty before and after it was signed in 2011. However, LJM spokesman dismissed the minister’s claims soon after.
The 24-hour ultimatum to suspend LJM’s participation in the government was conveyed in a letter from the group’s head Dr. Tijani Sese to the first Vice-President of Sudan Ali Osman Taha.
Sese is also chairman of DRA, which was created within the framework of the peace treaty and it is tasked with implementing the agreement. The body comprises former rebel fighters as some of its members.
Furthermore, LJM is furious over Khartoum’s move to close the International Republican Institute (IRI) and expelling its staff without consulting the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), Sudan Tribune says.
IRI is working with Sudan to support the implementation of the DDPD and is working with DRA-appointed LJM members to provide training on the skills essential to their duties as legislators, as stated on its website.
File photo: 14 July 2011: Ceremony of the Signing of Agreement between The Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement for the Adoption of the Doha Darfur Peace Document, at the Sheraton Hotel, Doha, the state of Qatar (Olivier Chassot/ UNAMID)
Related: Darfur’s LJM denies claims of Doha security arrangement delay (3 April 2013)
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