Sudan govt. accuses SLM-AW rebels of provocation

The Sudanese government has accused the Sudan Liberation Movement Abdelwahid El nur faction (SLM-AW of carrying out isolated provocative attacks in Jebel Marra in Darfur to force the armed forces to respond militarily.

The government says that the provocation is aimed at forcing them to violate the unilateral cease-fire and claims that there are renewed military confrontations in order to disrupt the ongoing implementation of Unamid’s exit strategy.

On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern in a statement “condemning the alleged acts of fraud carried out by the Abdelwahid movement which tricked the international parties into rushing to issue statements that talk of military confrontations and new displacements”.

This clearly refers to a statement last week by the Toika countries the USA, UK, and Norway, condemning the ongoing clashes between the SLM-AW rebels and Sudan’s army and militias in the Jebel Marra region.

The government of Sudan’s statement says that it is “continuing its national commitment to the safety and security of citizens and adherence to the ceasefire.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it is “committed to guarantee freedom of movement and access to Unamid and all organizations working in the humanitarian field.”

The statement called on the international community and the Security Council to take decisive action against the leadership of Abdelwahid movement, which the statement accused of cattle theft, burning villages and terrorising and displacing civilians.

SLM-AW

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, SLM-AW leader Abdelwahid El Nur responded to the Troika statement in  an open letter to US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

El Nur said: “The leadership of the SLM appreciates the concern voiced by the US, UK, and Norway over the desperate plight of the civilian population of Darfur enduring continued, genocidal violence and state terror by the military and paramilitary forces of the Sudanese dictatorship. However, El Nur pulls no punches when he says that the SLM-AW and the Troika have a “sharply divergent understanding of what this reality constitutes.”