Uganda Prevents Darfur Rebel Meeting

Mohamed Bashar of JEM-Bashar Darfur splinter rebel group was killed in Chad on May 12, 2013. The Darfur rebel groups are deeply divided in their fight against the central government in Khartoum., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sudan Vision News Daily
http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com

Uganda Prevents Darfur Rebel Meeting

The Ugandan authorities disclosed that they barred Sudan rebel leaders from meeting in Kampala last week.

An informed source at the Ugandan external security apparatus said the rebel leaders were notified of the decision during a secret meeting.

Minni Minnawi and Abdel-Wahid Mohamed Nur, the leaders of two separate factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement – the SLM-MM and SLM-AW respectively, as well as Ayoub Mohamed of Darfur People’s Unity Movement were reportedly present at the meeting.

The Ugandan authorities, however, haven't elaborated the reasons for preventing the meeting. No one knows if the barring was a prelude to normalization of ties with Khartoum, temporary or was taken only for security purposes.

Sudan Sarfari concluded that the Ugandan authorities are fed up with the Darfuri rebels movements and they have welcomed them only for the eyes of Sudan Liberation Movement-North which spearheads Sudan Revolutionary Front.

Kampala has hosted the Sudanese rebels to obstruct the flow of the South Sudanese oil via Sudan and convince Juba of exporting its oil Lamu pipeline through Mombasa.

The Ugandan hopes faded away following the breakthrough between Sudan and South Sudan which is expected to fully normalize its ties with its northern neighbour.

The Ugandan move may be political camouflage. It is known that the Ugandan President has a moody character and changing disposition.

Previously, the Ugandan government has previously hosted a meeting between Justice and Equality Movement and US Blackwater security firm during which it has pledged financial obligation for the company for training and supplying arms to the movement.

Compared to the Sudanese rebel leaders' meeting, JEM-Backwater meeting is more dangerous since it agreed to provide the rebel movement with arms and mercenaries.

More probably, the Ugandan authorities want to cease any military support and distance from the rebel attacks on South and North Korofan which resulted in heinous crimes against humanity.

This assumption may be behind the barring of the meeting. No one can judge, because the Ugandan President is directed by his personal disposition in favor of foreign intelligence.

Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson, Abu-Bakr Al-Sideeg Al-Amin expressed hope that the report is true, adding that Kampala has an obligation to refrain from backing rebel movements.

Al-Amin said that Uganda’s current chairmanship of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and its membership in the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), as well as other international blocs, requires not only the banning of rebel groups from holding meetings but also denying them existence within Ugandan territory.

“There is no objection on our part to establishing good and normal relations with Uganda. We have the desire and the will to do so and the Ugandan move [to ban rebel groups] serves in the same direction”, he said.