‘Problem in Darfur is mobilisation and arming of tribes’: Um Jaras Forum

The participants of the Um Jaras Forum in Chad have strongly condemned the widespread attacks of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under the command of the Sudanese security apparatus, in South and North Darfur. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a participant of the Um Jaras Forum for Peace, Security and Peaceful Co-Existence, said that the participants consider the “RSF Janjaweed led by Mohamed Hamdan, known as Hemeti, a tribal militia implementing a tribal agenda, not a national one”. They demand from the Sudanese government to immediately dissolve the RSF, or integrate them into the regular forces. The Forum participants agreed on the point that the primary cause of the conflicts in Darfur is the mobilising and arming by the central government of certain tribes, in particular the “Arab tribes”, in addition to the problem that leaders of the native administration, instead of bringing offenders belonging to their tribes to justice, are defending, protecting, and harbouring the perpetrators of murders, robberies, and abductions. In their recommendations presented during the closing session today, the participants demand from the Sudanese government to halt the mobilising or arming tribes, and to immediately disarm all the militias. The leaders of the native administration are to stop harbouring offenders, condemn them, and hand them to the authorities, so that they can be brought to justice and punished for the crimes. File photo Related:Sudanese President arrives at Chad’s Um Jaras (30 March 2014)Al Bashir, Deby in Um Jaras a ‘show’: Darfur rebels (28 March 2014)