Interview: Darfur rebel leader salutes Sudan’s youth

The leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) faction called on the Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his regime to “listen to the Sudanese people who are calling each day: Tasgut bas! [Just fall!], and immediately step down from the government”.

El Nur, accused by government leaders of subversion and sparking demonstrations, said in an interview with Radio Dabanga, “I am only one member of the Sudanese people and this generation of young people who rose up and said no to Al Bashir”.

“El Nur alone is equal to big zero, there are tens of millions of Sudanese and young revolutionaries better than El Nur who have yet to be discovered “

He saluted “the Sudanese youths who have revealed Al Bashir’s pretext of using a policy of divide and rule to stay in power, by holding more unity and steadfastness in the streets, defeating the racist regime’s plans, and showing it in their singing and cheering in the streets”.

He called on all the Sudanese to unite at this crucial time. El Nur: “There is no time for dispute and claim of championships. It is time for us all to be under the leadership of the revolutionaries who organised themselves in the villages and cities; groups such as the Association of Professionals and others.

“I say to the youths in Mayo, Libya Market, Ombadda, and El Haj Yousef [in Greater Khartoum], this is your revolution, you have to go down to the streets and the objective is the Presidential Palace and the removal of Al Bashir,” El Nur concludes.

Holdout

The SLM-AW resolutely refuses to engage in peace talks with the government and refuses to declare a unilateral cessation of hostilities. However, in September 2018, the movement declared a three-month unilateral cessation of hostilities to allow humanitarian access to civilians in landslide-affected areas in Jebel Marra.