Darfur launches Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Committees

The Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) launched a Justice Committee, and a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Monday. The establishment of a Justice Committee, which will be headed by police Maj. Gen. El Tayeb Abdel Rahman Mukhtar, and a Truth and Reconciliation Committee, to be headed by Ibrahim Abdallah Mohamed, is in accordance with the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur. DRA chairman, Dr Tijani Sese, said at the launch that justice and reconciliation committees have been established worldwide to deal with human rights violations, especially in the light of conflicts. He pointed to the successes such committees achieved in South Africa, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Morocco, and Argentina. “Based on humanitarian and social principles, the two committees will work on account of accountability, not impunity related to revenge. After receipt of claims, they will determine the range of the damages, and allocate compensation, in accordance with the procedural rules.” He called upon the committees to assume their full responsibilities towards achieving justice, and assessing the root causes of the conflict in Darfur. The chairman of the Justice Committee, Maj. Gen. Mukhtar, said that the committee will work “according to the principle of honesty, transparency, and justice”. Mohamed, the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, emphasised that his committee will “work in cooperation with the Justice Committee in order to strengthen relations, and enhance peaceful coexistence among the Darfur communities; to realise social solidarity; work on the healing of traumas, and overcome bitterness in a realistic, practical, and thoughtful manner”. Representatives of the displaced in the Darfur camps told Radio Darfur in May that they do not have any confidence in the committees.“We prefer an international justice organ, not the justice announced by Sese and this Khartoum regime. What is happening these days in Darfur is a new genocide and ethnic cleansing by the systematic burning of villages and forced displacement of civilians at the hands of the Rapid Support militias under the command of the security apparatus,” the coordinator of the North Darfur camps stressed. “So how can Sese launch such committees in a time of escalating violence?” Security arrangements The DRA also announced that the integration of the former rebel fighters of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), led by Tijani Sese, into the Sudan Armed Forces, will be implemented soon. “We are just waiting for the LJM troops to enter the military camps of South and West Darfur”, Maj. Gen. Tajelsir Abdel Rahman Abdallah, the DRA Commissioner for Security Arrangements, stated. “The troops in North Darfur will be integrated after the completion of the buildings”. “The total number of LJM combatants amounts to 111 officers, and 2,634 troops with other ranks.” File photo: Public rally on the occasion of the launch of the temporary DRA headquarters at El Negaa Stadium in El Fasher (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:Darfur displaced have little faith in DRA Committees (27 May 2014) Darfur Regional Authority appoints justice and reconciliation bodies (26 May 2014) Internal dialogue committee launched in Darfur (26 May 2014) Road map for Darfur security arrangements ready to be implemented: DRA (8 January 2014)