DRA head Sese criticises Sudanese media

The head of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), Dr Tijani Sese, has denounced the way the Sudanese media report on problems within the Authority. About 3,450 ex-rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)-Sudan were integrated into the Sudan Armed Forces this week.

Sese criticised the media for concentrating on persons instead of issues, saying that the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) “will not collapse when I leave”.

In a briefing following his arrival at the DRA headquarters in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, he fiercely attacked the Sudanese press, describing it as “bankrupt”.  

The DRA head called on all LJM members to refrain from tribalism, and unite for the sake of Darfur. He also warned that if the remaining security arrangements are not completed, the future of the youth within the LJM will be lost.

DRA Security Arrangements Commissioner Babiker Koreina announced the completion of the security arrangements regarding the ex-rebels of JEM-Sudan which joined the DDPD in April 2013. “The integration of 3,450 former JEM-Sudan combatants into the Sixth Infantry at Domaya military camp in South Darfur started this week.”

Conflicts within the LJM, that signed the DDPD in Doha in July 2011, have surfaced the last couple of weeks. In press conferences on 28 December and 7 January, LJM’s Secretary-General, Bahar Idris Abu Garda disclosed his dissatisfaction about the postponement of parts of the security arrangements by the LJM Leadership Council. He said that the adjournment has put plans at risk to convert the movement into a political party, and join the upcoming elections of April 2015. He admitted that this will be a challenge considering the little time left.

Abu Garda had not informed the LJM leadership about the press conference, which was organised by the state Sudan News Agency in Khartoum.

On 7 January, he accused Sese of pilfering the names of LJM combatants belonging, and instead submitting the details of fighters close to him, as well as troops of his own militia, to the Security Arrangements Commission.