Fur tribal leader refuses S. Darfur governor’s plea to leave rebellion

A Fur tribal leader has refused an invitation by the government of Sudan to leave the rebellion. The Shartai Suliman Hassaballa, the shartai of Dar Yara in South Darfur State, rejected the appeal of Governor Hamid Musa Kasha to him to return to the embrace of government and leave the insurgency. The shartai told Radio Dabanga that he was staying with the Sudan Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Al Nur.In late August, the governor had offered unconditional general amnesty to recruits from the region of East Jebel Marra who had taken up weapons as part of the insurgency. In particular, he had appealed to a number of sharati (senior Fur tribal chiefs) who had recently joined the rebellion. Government troops last week launched an offensive against territory controlled by SLA-Abdel Wahid, although the army spokesman denied this.

The Fur are the largest ethnicity in the three-state region of Darfur. Their ancestral heartland is around El Fasher and the fertile lands around Jebel Marra. Shartai Suliman Hassaballa is presently in that mountain region.