‘National peace day: when regime is toppled’

In light of the upcoming donors’ conference in Doha in December, refugees, displaced and armed movements from Darfur stated that the real national day of peace in Sudan will be the day the country’s ruling regime is toppled, they separately told Radio Dabanga, on Wednesday, 14 November.   Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir issued the decision to establish the national day of peace in the country on 31 May, the day the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) was adopted.   Dr. Amin Hassan Omar, Minister of State in the Presidency and Head of the Darfur Follow-up Office, recommended the date for the national holiday. His recommendation led the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, the Council of Ministers and other stakeholders to implement the resolution. The interviewees also said that the national day of peace can be celebrated when al-Bashir and all perpetrators who committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur and in South Kordofan are handed to the international justice and the regime in Sudan is toppled forever. ‘Provocative’ Nimer Abdel Rahman, spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdel Wahid (SLM-AW), called the president’s decision to establish the national day of peace on the same day the DDPD was adopted as ‘provocative’, he told Radio Dabanga. He added that ‘peace has nothing to do with what is happening on the ground’.The spokesman stressed that the purpose of the DDPD is to ‘please the prince of Qatar’ so the collapsing economy under the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) can get more financial support.Rahman said that peace cannot be celebrated in Sudan as long as al-Bashir is in power, suggesting that the national day of peace will be the day the NCP is toppled.‘Shameless’ On his turn, Jibril Ibrahim Mohamed, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), renewed the rebels’ refusal to join the Doha Document when speaking to Radio Dabanga.He described the document as ‘failed’, adding that a comprehensive solution is necessary for Sudan, which will be achieved by overthrowing the regime in Khartoum.    Mohamed called the government officials ‘shameless’ for considering the adoption of the Doha Document a day of peace. Lastly, he stated that establishing a peace day is inappropriate when wars are prevalent in Darfur and Blue Nile, while aerial bombings are carried out and diseases are out of control. Mohamed stressed that what is happening in Sudan is the opposite of peace. ‘Born dead’ At the same time, Mohamed Dafalla, head of the refugee camp Farchana in East Chad, denounced the signing of the DDPD saying it was ‘born dead’. He stressed to Radio Dabanga that the ‘dead document did not bring peace, but rather bleeding and more violence to Darfur’. Mohamed believes that real peace will only happen when al-Bashir is arrested and handed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. ‘Justice a pre-requisite for peace ‘ The coordinator of Zalingei camps in Central Darfur mocked the president’s decision to ‘make the adoption of the DDPD a day of peace’. He said that the continuos atrocities in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan are actually evidence of lack of peace in the country. The coordinator stated that justice is a pre-requisite for peace, adding it can only be realized when al-Bashir is handed to the ICC, along with Ahmed Haroun (South Kordofan’s governor), Abdul Rahim Mohamed Hussein (Minister of Defense) and Ali Kushayb (Janjaweed leader).Photo: the President of Sudan Omar al-BashirSee also: ‘Missing DDPD deadlines: a threat to peace’ (13 November 2012)