Salamat criticise South Darfur authorities for delayed peace conference

An omda of the Salamat tribe has strongly criticised the South Darfur state government for the delay of the planned reconciliation conference with the Taisha.

“Two years have passed since the clashes with the Taisha took place,” Salamat Omda Jibril Saeed Idris told Radio Dabanga from Rahad El Berdi town. “The conference has been adjourned several times. The last time was in August this year.“

Idris said that they do not want to wait for the South Darfur authorities anymore. “The Salamat in Rahad El Berdi locality, who fled their properties, trade, and farmlands two years ago, want to return. The central government has to intervene and resolve the problem.”

He called on the Sudanese authorities to organise a Salamat-Taisha reconciliation conference, “to be held as soon as possible in any state of the country”.

The omda furthermore accused the head of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police forces, Ali Kosheib, of transforming the villages of the Salamat in the locality into military camps. He urged the Sudanese authorities to expel Kosheib “from the five states of Darfur”.

Ali Kusheib was indicted by the international Criminal Court in 2007 on 22 counts of crimes against humanity, and 28 counts of war crimes in Darfur. He allegedly commanded thousands of Janjaweed militia troops during the first years of the civil war that erupted in 2003.