Um Jaras recommendations: ‘Disarm all but regular forces in Darfur’

The participants of the second Um Jaras Forum, convened in eastern Chad from 26-30 March, have recommended “the disarmament of everyone” in Darfur. During the closing session of the Second Um Jaras Forum for Peace, Security and Peaceful Co-Existence on Sunday, the participants in their recommendations affirmed the urgent need to impose the rule of law in Darfur, the Sudan News Agency (Suna) reported on Sunday. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) only should be allowed to carry weapons. The irregular forces, in particular the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), operating under the command of the Sudanese security apparatus, have to be dissolved or integrated into the SAF. The Forum urged all “arms holders to respond to the call for peace and uphold the values ​​of dialogue, tolerance, forgiveness, rejection of war and violence, and tribal fanaticism”. “All Darfur tribes are to enhance their reconciliation procedures.” The participants also pointed to the need to complete the security arrangements with the armed movements’ signatories to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, and the importance to prepare the ground for a voluntary return of the displaced and refugees by realising safety and security in the region. The role of the native administration should be activated, as well as the duties of the joint Sudanese-Chadian forces in “securing the border and deterring outlaws”. President Omar Al Bashir, who addressed the closing session on Sunday, pledged to implement the recommendations, starting as of Monday. Forum host President Idris Debi stressed his support and called upon the participants to propose mechanisms for an effective implementation of the Forum’s recommendations and decisions on the ground. The closing session of the five-day Um Jaras Forum was also attended by Dr Hassan Al Turabi, head of the Popular Congress Party, General Fadlallah Burma of the National Umma Party, Ahmed Saad Omar of the Democratic Unionist Party, representatives of other political forces.The Forum’s participants issued 23 recommendations, stressing their willingness to contribute to stop the violence and destruction in the region. Convincing the rebel movements During the opening session, President Deby explained that the Forum was established with the aim to find effective solutions to the problem of Darfur, to build consensus in convincing the rebel movements to join the peace process, and to promote peaceful coexistence between the various tribes in Darfur, and the Sudanese-Chadian border tribes. “More than 56 tribes are currently participating in the activities of the second Um Jaras Forum.” The Darfur rebel movements denounced the forum. “The Chadian government and the Sudanese President are required to play a bigger role in relation to the rights of the people of Darfur as whole, rather than standing by the side of a particular group,” the spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Radio Dabanga. The Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), considered the Forum “an extension of the attempts to dismantle the issue of Darfur, which began by the expulsion of humanitarian organisations, setting difficulties to the remaining ones, and emptying the camps.” The SLM-MM spokesman explained that they see the Forum as a “convergence of interests between Sudan and Chad for the consolidation of tribalism in both countries”. The first Um Jaras Forum took place October 2013. Apart from its host, President Deby, Dr Tijani Sese, chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority, Dr Amin Hassan Omar, the head of the governmental Darfur Peace Follow-up Office, and a number of prominent leaders of the Zaghawa tribe attended. File photo: Newly displaced who had to flee their homes when the RSF attacked more than 35 villages in the area southeast of Nyala on 27 and 28 February, under a provisional sun shelter near Kalma camp in South Darfur, 9 March 2014. (Albert González Farran/Unamid)  Related:‘Problem in Darfur is mobilisation and arming of tribes’: Um Jaras Forum (30 March 2014)Al Bashir, Deby in Um Jaras a ‘show’: Darfur rebels (28 March 2014)‘Um Jaras Forum to offer effective solutions for Darfur’: Chad President (27 March 2014)