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Answer
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Name
Sahar
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Profession
Question
I would like to ask will the JEM join the peace talks in Libya? and what does it expect from it?
Answer
The JEM will not join because we do not consider it a peace talks, however its a request for cease fire from the UN and the AU, and that violates the agreement between the movement and the mediators the UN and the AU.
The movement has agreed with the mediators before on a special issue in which negotiations being conducted between the JEM, the government of Sudan, and the SLM. Besides there has to be an agreement on the arrangements of the negotiations, on from where it should start and that case wasn't settled.
But the mediators concentrate on the cease fire which is a very minor issue from the main issues that should be addressed which are the power sharing, wealth sharing and the security arrangements.
However, the cease fire is a very small issue part of the big issue which is the security arrangements.
The joint mediators didn't agree with the movements on the issues that should be discussed, it also invited parties that are not involved in the conflict to join the peace talks, in which most of these parties are made by the government who gave it different names and the mediators agreed on this.
Moreover the mediators are trying to equalize the movements that are in the field and have political power like the JEM, but the JEM couldn't sit with these parties that the considers them " Internet Movements" that doesn't exist in reality and no one in Darfur knows about them.
The invitation of these parties with the JEM will create a chaotic situation in Tripoli and will not lead to real peace.
So the movement will not join the talks and it doesn't consider it as peace talks, however the movement gave an alternative in which they are ready to go to Tripoli for negotiations but according to the old agreement between the movement and the mediators.
The old agreement between the JEM and the mediators was to negotiate with the government of Sudan, SLM, and the JEM. And the cease fire issue comes one of the negotiating issues but not as a precondition.
Name
Mohamed
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Profession
Question
Was the JEM behind the kidnapping of the oil company workers?
Answer
Its not a kidnap its more of a military operation targeting oil fields in Kurdofan state. And its main target was the company of Greater Nile which is a certain company shared by the government of Sudan Guinea and Malaysia.
With this operation we want to stop oil production from Kurdofan and Sudan, to send a message to the Government of China and Chinese companies in Sudan to evacuate their activities and leave the area within one week.
The two hostages are an evidence that the JEM has the ability to affect the oil field companies but the regime in Khartoum denies this fact, so the arrest is a matter of evidence and a message to these parties to stop their activities and evacuate their employees from the area.
The third reason is the people of Kurdofan themselves, as its one of the marginalized regions in Sudan and its people suffering from the lack of basic needs and are dying because of disease, hunger and thirst, while there is oil coming out from their land. In addition to that, these companies and the regime refuse to give any job opportunity to these people, even as workers or even porters.
Thats why this is a revolution in Kurdufan and the people in Kurdufan are the ones who conduct these actions, as the revolution in Kurdufan is similar to those in Darfur. People also insist on stopping the activities of the oil companies, and as a result nine oil fields stopped working and the workers in those companies refrained from working because of security reasons. And the JEM is thankful to the people for their stance.
The movement gives the oil companies working there seven days only otherwise its responsible for what will happen.
Name
Nehal
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Profession
Question
Why is the JEM refusing the Abuja agreement? does it consider the coming talks in Libya the same?
Answer
The Abuja talks didn't address the root causes behind the conflict in Darfur, which is the marginalization of the people there who are more than one third of the total population in Sudan in an area bigger than France.
They kept suffering from total marginalization, even though Darfur is very rich in oil, but the governments didn't make use of these resources in development while the people kept suffering from the lack of minimum basis like health, education, and sanitation.
That's why the people are the ones who revolted, but the regime in Khartoum rejected to deal with these problems and refused to admit that there is a problem while these issues are known and clear to everyone since it has been reported in all media outlets.
The government is the one who mobilized forces to fight the people and quench the revolution.
Only when the government forces have been defeated the government admitted the problem and afterwards the government resorted to killing the civilians using area bombardment, the janjaweeds, massive killings to the people, burning more than 3000 village in Darfur, and raping which lead to the international involvement in Darfur as a result of the humanitarian crisis that the UN described it as the worst humanitarian crisis in history.
The government resorted to killings of civilians because it wasn't able to confront the movements there, and that lead to the collective displacements of the people, which resulted in having 2000,0000 Internally Displaced Persons inside Darfur.
There are also 500,000 refugees in neighboring countries along the borders of Chad and CAR.
The international community interfered to resolve the humanitarian crisis then when the security crisis escalated, it conducted the Abuja talks.
In Abuja there was a conspiracy from the "genocidal government" in Khartoum and some parties from the international community that has interest with the government so that there be no real agreement to address the real causes of the revolution, that’s why they made a worthless agreement between the government and the SLM with the leadership of Minni Minnawi.
Name
Mostafa
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Profession
Question
How does the movement find the problem happeneing between the central government and the government of the South?
Answer
The JEM finds the issue between them a very normal problem that was expected to happen. Because the government is a government known with violating the agreements and promises, in which it signs an agreement to violate and dishonor it not to conform by it, and the movement has already warned the South of the central government before .
The government now is working on containing the South so that it has absolute control on the Government of National Unity.
The JEM stand is that all Sudan's regions have to unite and have a common vision to solve all Sudan's problems in a comprehensive way. So the agreements with the government and small factions doesn't solve Sudan's problems, caused mainly by the central government in Khartoum, because it doesn’t include all parties involved in the conflict.
Name
Abul Allah
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Profession
Question
Is the movement with the call to postpone the talks so that there be a common position of rebel parties to enter the talks?
Answer
We don't need any more time what we need is an agreement on the issues to discuss, the people in Libya discussing the issue don't even have a soldier in Darfur, they are what we call " Internet Movements" who have no existence in reality.
The JEM and SLM who has a military and political presence in Darfur have agreed on the importance of building a platform for negotiation based on a clear method and clear negotiating procedure with time frame to achieve the demands.
Name
Ismail
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Profession
Question
Dr. Ibrahim Khalil, the founder of JEM,has former ties to Sudan's Islamic movement,that are well known and documented, whith a particualr closness to Al-Turabi, which strengthens the arguement that his group is a front for the Popluar Congress. In addition, JEM is also accused of close ties to Zaghawa intellegence officers in Chad. Please comment.
Answer
The JEM has no connections with the Islamic movements in Sudan or elsewhere, most students in Darfur are affiliated to political parties and movements, and Dr. Khalil is supported by people such as these groups.
So the relation between the JEM and the National Congress is something that the government has accused the JEM of and worked on spreading it in order to undermine the popularity of the movement.
But in reality there is no relation between the JEM and the political parties because the movement is much bigger and more important than parties as it includes all the people of Sudan,
in all regions. Those people join and support the JEM because they are marginalized and are waiting for the movement to solve the problems they have been facing for 50 years since Sudan's independence.
The people don't believe in the political parties because itself is a problem in Sudan.
The movement provides a new theory to solve the problems in Sudan, in which all regions get involved, not the political parties, and these regions bring their representatives from all parts in the country.
But the people don't have any role in the government since they don't have any representatives in the central government, and they don't share in the decision making, there hasn't been any parliament that represents the people, the members of parliament aren't elected and there is no accountability to the people in which the government can be accountable to the people. Even if elections were held they are not fair.
However the movement has a strong and efficient political leadership coming from all regions of Sudan, it also has a political thought, and has what's called " The Black Book: the imbalance of power and wealth sharing in Sudan", this book includes and addresses all the problems facing Sudan, and it has been the first book the movement issued.
The movement also includes many people who were affiliated to political parties whether communist, unionist, from the Umma party, Baathist, or Arab nationalists, which made it a wave of all the people in Sudan. That's why the government fears the movement because of its strength.
Concerning the link with Zaghawa officials in Chad, Zaghawa is a tribe living in Sudan, Chad and Libya. So the Zaghawa members in the JEM are actually Sudanese who live in Darfur. Sudan has 9 neighbor countries with common borders in which the Zaghawa live on the boarders of Sudan, Chad and Libya. Just as the Kurds who live on the borders of Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Zaghawa is a tribe in which its members are from different nationalities living across borders of many countries.
So the Zaghawa who are members in the JEM are actually Sudanese Zaghawa living in Darfur just as other Sudanese, but that doesn’t mean that the movement has relations with other circles outside Sudan, neither tribes nor countries.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Our session has ended,
I would like to thank our readers and our esteemed guest for his time and cooperation.
