The Darfur armed movements who are signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement announced Thursday that they would join the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) to fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on all fronts across the country.
Addressing a press conference in Port Sudan, the four outfits said that they have broken their silence and abandoned their neutrality and now stand alongside the SAF.
The group consists of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) under Minni Minnawi, The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Jibril Ibrahim, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) under Al-Tahir Hajar, and the Sudan Liberation Movement the-Transitional Council (SLM-TC) of Al-Hadi Idris.
The Sudan Liberation Movement led by Al-Taher Jajar was however absent at the press conference and its leader denied in a statement that he participated in the press conference despite the presence of the outfit’s political secretary, Salah al-Wali, at the press conference.
Hajar affirmed his neutral position and his lack of commitment to the outcomes of the conference.
Nevertheless, Salah Wali affirmed that the movement stands with the military and is fighting alongside them against the Rapid Support Forces.
According to the armed movements, they made an effort to prevent war but the RSF moved the war from Khartoum to Darfur, a move they say threatens to divide Sudan.
“We decided to stand against the fragmentation of Sudan,” they stated.
The armed movements accused neighboring Chad of supporting the RSF and demanded that it stop immediately. They also called on other countries in the region, which they did not name, to stop supporting the RSF and refrain from interfering in Sudanese affairs.
The Darfur armed groups summarized their vision for the solution as an immediate and permanent ceasefire and called on the regional and international community working to find a solution to the Sudanese problem to unify their position while taking into account Sudan’s sovereignty and unity.