Members of Darfur’s NLJP demand suspension of party activities

Senior members of the National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP), led by Dr El Tijani Sese, have submitted a memorandum to the Sudanese Council of Political Parties’ Affairs, demanding a temporary suspension of the party’s activities. 

Newspapers in Khartoum on Monday quoted Mukhtar Bahreldin, member of the NLJP Central Committee, who said that the memorandum listed several points proving the party's non-compliance to the 2007 Political Parties Act.  

Among the points mentioned are the non-completion of the security arrangements, as stipulated in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) as well as the party’s institutions, and the absence of financial details of expenditure and revenues of the party.

The Central Committee further criticises Sese for taking “several substantive decisions” without informing the party members, including the suspension of partnership with the government on 17 June, non-assessment of the election process in April, and assigning the party’s committees with several tasks.

The Liberation and Justice Movement, under the leadership of Sese, signed the DDPD with the Sudanese government in Qatar, July 2011. Sese became the head of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) since its establishment in February 2012.

Split

In December last year, conflicts within the leadership of the former rebel group surfaced. In press conferences that month and January, Bahar Idris Abu Garda, Secretary-General of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), and Federal Minister of Health, fiercely criticised the LJM Leadership Council regarding the postponement of parts of the security arrangements and the failure of implementing development projects in Darfur. On 18 January, the LJM interim board ousted Sese as its president.

Sese then formed the National Liberation and Justice Movement (NLJM), which was registered as political party in February. The LJM, under the leadership of Abu Garda, also took part in the April national election as a political party.

Fraud

As head of the DRA, Sese has also been subjected to accusations of fraud. Last January, Abu Garda accused him of entering fighters of his personal militia into the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) programme, as set out in the DDPD, instead of LJM ex-combatants.

The DRA Minister of Reconstruction, Development, and Infrastructure, Tajeldin Bashir Niyam, at the time claimed that the Authority’s lack of accountability has contributed to the deteriorating situation in Darfur.