The LJM cannot solve Darfur alone

Ali Majok al-Momin Khartoum - Abed Algayoum Ashmeag The leader of Sudanese armed faction SLA Free Will Darfur, Ali Majok al-Momin, has said that Sudan's Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), which is expected to move to Darfur, cannot find a solution to the province's crisis alone due to its tribal hierarchy. "The central government is well aware of that, but it is forced to accept the situation," said al-Momin. Arabstoday had an exclusive interview with Majok, who is also a state minister in Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir's government. "I don't think this strategy (of the SLA Free Will) can work. It was adopted before by some figures inside the ruling party who don't believe in a collective approach, our experience with such movements was not positive in the past. Those who are pushing for this strategy have to bear their responsibilities." Al-Monim continued: "There are signs of splits inside the LJM, as it is already based on a mix of former members of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), while its leader, al-Tijani Cisse has never belonged to any militant movement. He was just a political opponent working through the Ummah Party, but he was chosen to lead the movement only for his ability to settle the cause of the refugee camps in Darfur, as most of those refugees belong to his tribe, the al-Fur. As Darfur prepares to come under a provincial authority that was agreed on by the Sudanese government and the LJM at a summit in Doha, observers are doubtful of its success. Al-Monim, whose movement signed an agreement with the Sudanese government in 2006 that was followed by its conversion to a national political party, said: "The Sudanese government is not dealing with the militant movements in a logical way, some figures inside the ruling party believe that the militant groups will start to lose their power gradually as soon as they sign an agreement with them. But previous experiences have proven this theory wrong, as in with Mona Arko Menawi who signed an agreement with the government and turned out an assistant for president al-Bashir. In the end, he managed to lead another rebellion against him." When asked about the Doha deal, the former militant answered: "It's not an agreement, it's just a document based on the Abuja agreement." Al-Monim said he expected trouble for the new provincial authority, "as the central government's mayors in Darfur will never give up their constitutional powers to the new authority, especially as the Doha deal is not and will never be included in the Sudanese constitution". The politician ended the interview by saying: "The Darfur crisis will not be settled due to the Abuja agreement or the Doha document, because neither the Sudanese government nor Darfur's movements have a comprehensive strategy to address this crisis." However, Majok pointed out steps which should be effective in settling the crisis, saying they would help make the Doha document subject to wide national discussion, and would help strengthen ties between the provincial authority and the central government's representatives in Darfur. Finally, al-Monim warned of the recent splits inside Darfur's various movements, beginning from the resignation of the deputy head of the LJM, Ahmed Abdel Shafei. He associated the splits with the tribal factor in choosing the movements' leaders, and to the prevention of some figures from having their share of power and benefits.