Rebel SLM-SR to sign on to Darfur peace file

Sudan is ready to sign a peace agreement with a breakaway rebel group in the longstanding Darfur conflict, a government official said on Thursday.

Majdi Khalafallah, head of the government's office for peace in Darfur, said an agreement would be signed in Doha next week between the government and Sudan Liberation Movement-Second Revolution, a group led by rebel figure Abulgasim Imam.

The rebel group was not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.

The deal with the Second Revolution, which broke away from the SLM led by Abdelwahid El Nur in May 2014, will be added to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), a framework peace agreement the Government of Sudan put together in 2011. Only a few groups have so far signed on to, Khalafallah said.

“This movement's inclusion will widen the area that enjoys peace in Darfur, especially in the Marra mountains area…We are optimistic that the coming period will see major developments in the peace process in Darfur.”

The SLM-SR has, like Taher Hajar’s Sudan Liberation Movement and several other dissident groups of the main armed movements in Sudan, joined the National Dialogue of President Omar Al Bashir in January 2016.

Doha peace deal

The DDPD was signed on 11 July 2011 between the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) of Tijani Sese. The Justice and Equality Movement faction led by Bakheit Abdelkarim Dabajo (JEM-Dabajo) joined the deal on 6 April 2013.

The Darfur Regional Authority and the Darfur Peace Follow-up Office were established to serve as a major body for the implementation of the agreements of the peace file. The government dissolved them mid-2016 and formed a Higher Committee for Peace in Darfur to continue implementation.