The head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Jibril Ibrahim has taken over the chairmanship of the Sudan Revolutionary Front from SPLM-N chairman Malik Agar after a contentious leadership meeting that concluded in Paris on Saturday, according to the SRF deputy chairman.

SRF is a coalition of Darfur rebel groups and the SPLM-N, which controls parts of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. JEM, one of the coalition members, is a group that originated largely in Darfur but has carried out operations also in South and North Kordofan, South Sudan and elsewhere.

Al-Tom Hajo, deputy chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, announced on Sunday that the chairmanship of the rebel coalition has been transferred to Dr. Jibril Ibrahim pursuant to the principal of a rotational presidency agreed upon since the founding of the coalition.

He told Radio Tamazuj in a statement from the French capital that the SRF will continue the path of struggle and he called on opposition forces to unite to achieve freedom, democracy and justice, considering the leadership change a normal matter.

On the other hand, SPLM-N official Mubarak Ardol, who has been the group's spokesman for its negotiating team at peace talks, downplayed the claims by Al-Tom Hajo, saying in a statement that the news of the transfer of the leadership to Jibril Ibrahim is a lie. He affirmed that the announcement of Jibril's takeover of the chairmanship does not come officially from the Sudan Revolutionary Front.

However, Ahmed Tugud Lisan, a leading member of JEM, confirmed the transfer of the chairmanship of the SRF from Malik Agar to Jibril Ibrahim. Jibril is the brother of the late JEM founder Khalil Ibrahim, who was killed in an airstrike in North Kordofan in 2011.

Lisan told Radio Tamazuj that the SRF Leadership Council made the decision at the Paris meeting over objections raised by the SPLM-North Secretary-General Yasser Arman. He said that Arman was the only person who objected to the change, presenting a list of objections. According to Lisan, Arman's position was not considered objective and he was overruled.

Sources within the Sudan Revolutionary Front pointed to fears of a possible split after the SPLM-N refused to relinquish the chairmanship.

File photo: Dr Jibril Ibrahim, Leader of the Justice and Equality Movement