Minawi’s forces declared as hostile, Transitional Authority funds frozen

The armed forces announced that the ex-rebel forces of Minni Minawi have once again become hostile forces, according to remarks by the military spokesman Al Sowarmi Khalid Saad printed in Khartoum newspapers yesterday. The spokesman alleged that a group of forces loyal to Minawi moved towards the border on their way to the South, in clear breach of the Abuja Agreement. Al Sowarmi added that the army is chasing those forces.For his part, Minawi strongly denied that his troops had moved into South Sudan. The ex-rebel, who left Darfur and moved to Khartoum after signing the Abuja Agreement in 2006, took up residence recently in Juba in South Sudan. Minawi told Radio Dabanga that the army spokesman’s remarks are incorrect. He stressed that even if the forces of the movement have moved, they are permitted to move inside Darfur from one end to the other, and this is a matter that concerns the movement. He stressed that there are SLA forces deployed in all areas of Darfur and there are administrative convoys that go to areas within Darfur. Minawi described the military’s declaration of hostility as dirty talk and said that his group will treat them according to the way that they are treated.

In a related development in Khartoum, the government froze the financial accounts of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority, a body set up after the Abuja deal. The decision was issued by the undersecretary at the ministry. Minawi commented that he is not surprised by the government’s decision to freeze the accounts of the Transitional Authority, noting that the National Congress Party in effect had already canceled the actual Abuja agreement. He said the NCP had failed to implement all of the mechanisms for the Transitional Authority. He noted that since last May he is not head of the Transitional Authority.