London conference unites 8 Darfuri resistance groups

Eight Darfuri factions in a news conference in London on Sunday announced the formation of a new coalition of Sudanese resistance forces in Darfur. The factions in a news release said that the new alliance will meet in Libya next week to decide whether to send a delegation to the Doha negotiations. The coalition appears as a counter-weight to the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), another umbrella coalition, which was supposed to sign a peace deal with the government within days. The statement said the alliance came in response to the appeal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to unify all Darfur movements. The statement was signed by: Mohamed Bahar for Justice and Equality Movement, Al Hadi Ajab Al Nur for the United Revolutionary Front Forces, Babiker Abdullah for his SLM faction, Mahjoub Hussein for a LJM faction, Mohamad Yusuf for the United Resistance Front, Idriss Azraq for the Justice and Equality Movement, Khamis Abdullah for the Sudan Liberation faction, and Abdul Aziz Ahmed for the Revolutionary Democratic wing. Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman of Justice and Equality Movement, described the formation of the new alliance as a serious step towards the unification of all resistance in Darfur for the cause of justice in Darfur.

The United Revolutionary Front Forces (URFF), a faction that was headed by the late Rizeigat commander Ibrahiam Al Zubaidi until he was killed in an ambush earlier this year, welcomed the formation of the new alliance. Al Hadi Ajab Al Dur, Secretary-General of the Front called it a ‘necessary step to unify resistance.’ He called on Dr. Tijani Sese, Abdel Wahid Al Nur and Minni Minawi to join the alliance in order to unify the resistance for the rights and demands of the people of Darfur.