Darfur’s National Liberation Party resumes power-sharing with Khartoum

The National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP), led by Dr El Tijani Sese, announced its resumed partnership with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Monday. It instructed its members to return to their government posts.

After a meeting with President Omar Al Bashir on Monday, Sese told reporters in Khartoum that the NLJP decided to terminate the freezing of its cooperation with the NCP.

The NLJP announced the suspension of its political partnership and its withdrawal from the government on 17 June. The former rebel group accused the NCP of not honouring a political agreement to power-sharing between the two parties. Its officials left their posts at the federal and state levels. A week later, discussions started between the two parties to solve the issue.

NLJP spokesman, Ahmed Fadil, said on Monday that the party reached an understanding with the NCP after they had been briefed by a joint committee about its findings.

On Sunday, President Al Bashir issued a Republican Decree, extending the term of the Darfur Regional Authority’s (DRA), headed by Sese, for another year.

Sese commented on the extension of the DRA mandate by saying that the “coming period will witness the continuation of the implementation of the DRA projects to achieve stability, development, and peace in all states of Darfur”. He stressed that the extension represents another opportunity for the remaining armed movements to join the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD). He hailed the state of Qatar for playing a leading role in resolving the Darfur issue, and stressed that there will be no place for other Darfur peace initiatives. 

Holdout rebel groups refuse parts of the DDPD and demand the review of several chapters in the framework agreement, but Khartoum refuses to concede, arguing that the document has the regional and international support.