SRF supports intifada in Sudan, denies involvement

The Sudan Revolutionary Front announced its support to the Sudanese people in their peaceful demonstrations in a number of cities in the country. Minni Minawi, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) and Vice President of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) stressed that it is the constitutional right of the Sudanese to demonstrate peacefully, and that the SRF fully supports the demonstrators in their demands “to get rid of the Khartoum regime.” Minawi told Radio Dabanga that the so-called lifting of subsidies is a continuation of genocide in another way, e.g. by starvation. He appealed to the army, the police and the security forces to stand by the demands of the masses and to refrain from using arms against them. He warned “the government and its militias” not to use excessive violence against unarmed citizens. Dr Jibril Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Vice President of the SRF, announced that the SRF is fully prepared to implement an immediate ceasefire after the “victory of the revolution” currently taking place in the country. Ibrahim, during an interview with Radio Dabanga, announced that the SRF is ready to fully cooperate with all opposition parties “in the organisation of a transition period” and the development of an agenda for this period. The JEM leader repeated his movement’s and the SRF’s appeal, directed to the whole of Sudan, to topple the regime. He stressed that the SRF’s forces did not participate in the current uprising until now, in order not to give the regime the opportunity “to beat citizens”. Yet, the SRF forces will intervene “when it is required in order to protect the revolution”. El Tom Haju, a leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and Vice President of the SRF, stressed that the SRF has full confidence that Sudanese people who began their intifada on Wednesday, are fully able to resolve the battle peacefully by themselves. Haju, in an interview with Radio Dabanga, reacted to accusations of the government that the SRF is behind the demonstrations: “The SRF’s position is neutral. However, when the regime continues killing peaceful protesters, we cannot remain neutral.” Haju, who is originally from Sennar, also directed a message to the residents of Wad Madani and Sennar to go to the streets and support the protesters in the other cities in their efforts “to get rid of this nightmare”. The Chief Commander of the Joint Military Forces of the SRF, Abdul Aziz Adam El Hilu, told Radio Dabanga that the SRF supports what he described as “peaceful uprising of the masses in order to topple the regime”. El Hilu, however, appealed to the Sudanese to keep the peaceful nature of the protests. The Commander added that “there is no relationship at all between the SRF, the lies of the regime and the nonsense uttered by the governor of Gezira state, Zubair Bashir Taha, about the SRF being involved in the protests”. He confirmed that “after the regime has been toppled peacefully, the SRF will immediately stop its military actions, for the sake of building a democratic nation, free of any discrimination.” Yet, El Hilu added that the SRF will intervene in case the regime will continue using excessive violence against its own people to oppress the intifada, because “the oppressors will be brought to justice, be it sooner or later.” El Hilu appealed to the adherents of the SRF in all the cities and villages of Sudan to actively participate in the peaceful uprising to topple the Khartoum regime.File photo: Minni Minawi, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) and Vice President of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF)