Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

Sudan Liberation Movement
Participant in Darfur conflict
Active	2002–present
Leaders	Minni Minnawi - SLM (Minnawi) Abdul Wahid al Nur - SLM (al-Nur)
Area of operations	Darfur

War in Darfur
Timeline
International response
UNMIS / AMIS / UNAMID
ICC investigation
Combatants
SLM
JEM
LJM
Janjaweed
Other articles
History of Darfur
Bibliography
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Not to be confused with Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) operating in Southern Sudan.

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or (Arabic: حركة تحرير السودانḥarakat taḥrīr as-Sūdan) (abbreviated as either SLM or SLA) is a Sudanese rebel group. It was founded as the Darfur Liberation Front^[1] by members of three indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur, the Fur, the Zaghawa and the Masalit^[2] among whom were the leaders Abdul Wahid al Nur of the Fur and Minni Minnawi of the Zaghawa.^[2]

Formation

General Omar al-Bashir, and the National Islamic Front headed by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, overthrew the Sudanese government led by Ahmed al-Mirghani in 1989. A large section of the population in Darfur, particularly the non-Arab ethnicities in the region, became increasingly marginalized.^[3][4] These feelings were crystallized by the publication in 2000 of The Black Book, that detailed the structural inequity in the Sudan, which denies non-Arabs equal justice and power sharing. In 2002 Abdul Wahid al Nur, a lawyer, Ahmad Abdel Shafi Bassey, an education student, and a third man founded the Darfur Liberation Front which subsequently evolved into the Sudan Liberation Movement, and claimed to represented all of the oppressed in the Sudan.^[1]

Groups and factions

Main factions

In 2006 the Sudan Liberation Movement spilt into two main factions, divided on the issue of the Darfur Peace Agreement:

• Sudan Liberation Movement (Minnawi) - this group is led by Minni Minnawi and signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006. Minnawi served as the Chairperson of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority from its formation in 2007 to his dismissel in December 2010. The SLM-Minnawi faction formally withdrew from the peace agreement in February 2011.^{[5] [6]}

• Sudan Liberation Movement (al-Nur) - this group was formed in 2006 and is led by Abdul Wahid al Nur. It has rejected the Darfur Peace Agreement. ^[7]

Other smaller splinter groups

• Sudan Liberation Movement (Historic Leadership) - this group split from the al-Nur faction and is led by Osman Ibrahim Musa. It signed a peace agreement with the government of South Darfur in January 2011. ^[8]

• Sudan Liberation Movement (General Command) - formed in November 2010 by former members of the SLM factions and the former members of the Justice and Equality Movement. It is led by Adam Ali Shogar. ^{[9] [10]}

• Sudan Liberation Movement (Mainstream) - this group is led by Mohamed Al Zubeir Khamis. ^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Flint, Julie and De Waal, Alexander (2008) Darfur: A New History of a Long War Zed Books, London, p. 90, ISBN 978-1-84277-949-1
2. ^ ^{a b} BBC Staff (24 February 2009) "Who are Sudan's Darfur rebels?" BBC News
3. ^ Flint, Julie and De Waal, Alexander (2008) Darfur: A New History of a Long War Zed Books, London, pp. 16-17, ISBN 978-1-84277-949-1
4. ^ Jok, Jok Madut (2007) Sudán: Race, Religion and Violence Oneworld, Oxford, p. 4 ISBN 978-1-85168-366-6
5. ^ "Darfur Peace Agreement Fact Sheet" Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, May 2006, from Internet Archives
6. ^ http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/9223
7. ^ Staff (December 2006) "No Dialogue, No Commitment: The Perils of Deadline Diplomacy for Darfur" Sudan Issue Brief Number 4, p. 3, Human Security Baseline Assessment, Small Arms Survey, Geneva, Switzerland, from Internet Archives
8. ^ http://www.shrig.org.sd/news-archive/darfur-news/2657-peace-agreement-between-south-darfur-government-and-historic-leadership-of-sudan-liberation-movement-signed.html
9. ^ http://www.islammemo.cc/akhbar/arab/2010/11/10/110852.html?lang=en-us
10. ^ http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=63317
11. ^ http://www.shrig.org.sd/news-archive/darfur-news/2786-slm-main-stream-hosting-darfur-insurgents-in-south-an-animosity-act.html

External links

• Sudan Liberation Movement (Minnawi) - Official website (Arabic)
• Sudan Liberation Movement (al-Nur) - Official website
• al-Nur, Abdel Wahid "SLM statement on the secular state" Sudan Tribune 3 January 2007, from Internet Archive
• Reed, Ryan Spencer (2007) "Darfur Photographic Exhibition - The Cost of Silence" - Documentary photographer's images of Sudan's rebels including the Sudan Liberation Army