An Interview with the Chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army Abdul Wahid Mohammed Ahmed Al Nour, concerning the looming severe famine and the humanitarian gap , the status quo in Sudan plus others
Conducted by: alsudania .news, on 26th of June 2024, and translated from Arabic to English.
Journalist: Jaafar Alsabki Ibrahim
Excerpts from the interview
- The chairman and co- founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army; Abdul Wahid Mohammed Ahmed Al Nour, in his response regarding chapter seven of the United Nations charter and the deployment of international forces in Sudan he said, “If we want to bet, we must bet on our ability to unite, have one national project, and establish a robust national civil front, and if necessity and circumstances compelled us, build a united military front to end the tyranny of the fanatical Islamists “ Kizan” , we must all stick together and work in unison as a force, in order to create an equal citizenship rights state.”
- “There must be no impunity, and anyone who committed a crime against the Sudanese people must be held accountable, including me the chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army” He emphasized.
- Abdalla Hamdok is a patriotic and zealous Sudanese, and we as a movement have absolute trust on him and we are in touch with him, to create the largest national front that will stands against the war, and align with the Sudanese people.
- The neutral position is better, for it alleviates the woes of war and the Sufferings of the Sudanese people, on the other hand, the Sudanese Army is burning with anger against the social incubators which stand against the war.
- The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) deserves special appreciation, admiration and praise, because it has fully fulfilled its role through the disseminating of facts and violations and defending Darfur people.
- The Sudanese crisis is political, consequently; must be resolved politically and not security-wise as currently happening, and we as a movement have our vision, but you know “Don’t befriend someone who always changing his colors, who swings where the wind blows, who is generous when you don’t need his money or generosity and who is uncharitable when your fortunes are low” yet; the political work in Sudan is buying and selling.
To the core of the Interview
Q: The situation in Darfur region is volatile, especially after the split of the movements which signed Juba Peace Agreement, presumably; to protect civilians as they said before, although some of them sided with the army in their fighting, and others still neutral, and now the civilians of Darfur are living in an unbearable conditions, so what are your comments on the current events now, Particularly in Al Fashir city?
A: the conditions are harrowing and heart-wrenching not only in Darfur, but also in entire Sudan, therefore; we must all stick together in one line with the Sudanese people and not with any party or parties to the conflict, in order to rescue Sudan from the state of war and fighting, although it is known who is creating these wars since 1989 until today.
Also; the situation in Darfur is very volatile and we hoped that, all of our comrades would be neutral in this war, because we primarily rebelled against this army “the army of the Islamists”, we fought them but we ceased fighting now, however; we are genuine foes of the Sudanese army, because it is the one who created the proxy militias through its military intelligence division, and this army perpetrated genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and it is an ideological army par excellence.
If you ask me about civilians in Darfur, we; as a movement took a neutral stance in the ongoing war, while our liberated territories constitute one third (1/3) area of the entire Darfur and we never stood and will not stand with any party or entity.
We only stand with the Sudanese people, in their protracted battle against the political Islam, and our position as Sudan Liberation Movement/Army is that; we manage to avail liberated territories , in which there is absolute safety for our people, accordingly; we received the Sudanese people who fled the woes of war between the two belligerent parties , nonetheless; we are helpless to provide humanitarian aid to them, such as food, medicine and clothing moreover, we also failed to provide homes or shelters to protect them from rains, housing and the heat of the Sun, as the falling season is in the corner.
For this reason; we appeal to the international community and humanitarian organizations, to provide humanitarian aid to our people, we are appealing, because there are millions of Sudanese who came from all over Sudan from Al Jazeera, Khartoum and Kordofan states, as well as from various cities of Darfur to our liberated territories.
This is precisely our position as a movement, we also appeal to everybody to follow our example, and once again we reiterate that, the neutral stance is better, because it minimize the woes of war, and alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.
Q: The military aircrafts are still launching vicious air strikes in larger parts of Sudan, which led to massive killings of civilians and even livestock, animals, forests are not spared from these bombardments, and while; some believe that, there is a deliberate targeting to certain areas, in order to displace their population, especially civilians of Darfur region. Could you share with us your perspective on this matter Mr. Chairman?
A: Of course; in our liberated territories, the ongoing war raids haven’t reached us yet, maybe because we maintained a neutral position at least, but everybody knows and saw that, since the establishment of Sudan’s military air force corps, they had been bombarding innocent civilians in their successive wars against the massive majority of the Sudanese people; Sudan’s air force launch air strikes first, then leave the rest of the job to its allied paratroop militias, to clean the land or implement the army’s scorched earth policy, according to their military terminology, which means; perpetrating mass killings , rape and incineration with impunity.
If we took Darfur region for instance; any village in Darfur which burned to ashes, first hover on the air Antonov, helicopter or MiG fighter jets to bombard the village, next the militias follow suit, wreaking havoc on earth, through mass raping, killing and annihilating, later on the army’s ground forces come to secure the attacked area, as everybody sees this now happening in the current war between Sudan’s armed force (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces ( RSFs) , and all what is taking place are repeated scenes, as we see the army aircrafts indiscriminately bombarding unarmed civilians in populous areas, which controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs) , thus anyone who injured in these air raids is simply unarmed civilian and not a militant.
Furthermore; we in the movement fought the Islamists regime, and they ought to target us because we are the ones who are fighting them, but instead; if we see for instance in South Kordofan, the regime is targeting schools and hospitals, typically as it happened in their previous wars in South Sudan Republic, they deliberately hit civilian areas and not military targets, for most of the Sudanese army’s fury is on the social incubators that stand against them or rebelled against them, this is the type of sufferings that we habitually see and lament.
Regarding the forcible displacement to some communities, we have to be frank, the arbitrary displacement is undeniable fact, because the Sudanese army is a racist army, that exercise racist practices against the social incubators of those who rebelled against them, and that is why there are millions of innocent displaced and refuge civilians in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, and the Blue Nile state who forced to abandon their homes, because the state machinery target them in systematic, organized and special manner with its air force .
Q: Currently there are tens of thousands civilians displaced from Al Fashir city alone, to Sudan Liberation Movement/Army’s liberated territories and they are Suffering harsh conditions, do you have contacts with international organizations in order to deliver aid to them? And what is the movement’s role in the aid operations?
A: of course; those who arrive on a daily basis to the controlled territories of the movement are estimated in thousands and until now millions have reached to our areas from all different parts of Sudan. And as I mentioned before the humanitarian situation is very dire, due to the ongoing war, additionally; the roads are unsecure and there is a blockade imposed on most towns and cities countrywide, which led to scarcity of food and basic other consumer goods, plus; nobody has money or work, so the general situation is very miserable and worse.
Although the movement provides full security to the displaced civilians in its liberated territories, while the civil authority which headed by comrade Mujeeb al –Rahman Mohammed Al Zobier, organizes civilian affairs, and we have all the components of the civil rule, such as the judiciary, police, education, health and services, nonetheless; there is a huge gap and deficit, in the needs from humanitarian aid, medicine and clothing.
Yet; we as a movement work painstakingly using our meager and limited resources at hand, to provide some of these needs, we also try to assist charitable merchants and humanitarian organizations, to deliver crops from outside Sudan, through securing the roads for them, which is usually an onerous task and heavy burden to accomplish.
Hence; we appeal to international organizations to bear their responsibility, for this purpose; we convened protracted meetings with some aid organizations, and we believe that, now there will be a real and practical beginning of delivering relief and humanitarian aid to Darfur, Liberated territories and all areas of Sudan.
Accordingly, we believe that Al Fashir city can be the best secure humanitarian hub for that, so that everyone or organization can deliver unfettered relief to Darfur ,Kordofan and the rest of Sudan, as delivering aid from Port Sudan, pragmatically speaking; not possible, because the authorities which exist there, are the same authorities which perpetrated genocide and ethnic cleansing against those relief-targeted population ( remnants of the deposed Islamist regime of Al Bashir), so it is beyond impossible for them to have that mentality , of allowing swift delivery of relief to those areas, for they are targeting certain civilian population to perish them, and in fact; they are using relief and starvation as a weapon of war, because in their view people of those areas are not human beings who deserve to live, above all; they can’t be destroyers and builders at the same time, can they?
Q: The movement thought to hold a conference to tackle humanitarian issues in its liberated territories, but the purposed conference was postponed, due to some security reasons, is there any tendency in the near future to convene such a conference to determine the humanitarian needs?
A: Yes; the idea first came from Darfur Bar Association, through its proactive general secretary, Mr. Al – Sadiq Ali Hassan,aka; Al Sindikali, this juridical organization deserves special appreciation, admiration and praise, for it played a pivotal role in disseminating facts and violations, as well as defending the people of Darfur, it is an important worthy testimony from me towards this organization and their key figures, who did a great and marvelous job for the organization such as the renowned attorney; Saleh Mahmoud along with many others that limitation of time will not allow me to mention their names.
Back to your question, the idea cropped up to convene a conference on humanitarian issues in Egypt, after that in the liberated territories.
However; the conference was held in Kalma IDPs camp, under the auspices of general coordinator of the IDPs and refugees camps of Darfur, Mr. Yagoub Mohammed Abdella, aka; Foreh and from there on the idea was extended to include other areas , nevertheless; the conference was postponed to another time, due to organizational and logistical reasons, that absolutely has nothing to do with the security reasons, and I assure you that, this paramount proposed conference will be conducted soon, because the humanitarian situation at the camps are beyond dire, and in my recent communication, as I frequently, talk with camps leaders, the general coordinator of the camps informed me that, in Kalma camp alone the daily death toll is between 20 to 21 person , so the civilians daily losses of lives , due to lack of life –saving medicines and food is huge, as we have 171 IDPs camp which exist across Darfur only, not to mention the death toll in the rest of Sudan, it is indeed; sorrowful .
Accordingly; Sudan is witnessing the greatest unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the world, whereas; in the world itself there is obvious racism, because in the world view; the crisis of Sudan is, inferior to that of Gaza or Ukraine, because if we find 1% of the concern which was given to Gaza or Ukraine, in terms of the provided humanitarian aid, I believe; the life of the Sudanese civilian would have been a great deal better than the situation in which they are living in now.
Q: Word on the street is that, the movement participated in rescuing those civilians fleeing the war from Al Fashir city to the city of Tawila, which is controlled by the movement; Do you have any coordination between other neutral movements in securing the ways to those fleeing from Al Fashir city?
A: Certainly; the movement actively participated in evacuating those civilians fleeing the war from Al Fashir city to Tawila, which is our liberated territory, and of course; the truth must be said, we in the past had joint coordination force, in order to protect civilians, but some of the parties disavowed from the pledges they made to remain neutral, and entered into the war fighting on behalf of the Sudanese armed force (SAF) , and by so doing our joint work came to an abrupt end.
Nevertheless; we continued as a movement working on our own, although there is an idea of forming a joint force again with the congregation of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Al Tahir Hajar, though the idea is still under discussion, despite we are now working on our own, the idea is not new for us, it is an ancient norm and practice for the movement, as numerous times we facilitated civilians’ rescuing missions before, such as in Zalingei city of central Darfur state, Nyala city the capital of Southern Darfur state and in many other areas.
And as I mentioned early, our national duty primarily, is to protect and secure the lives of civilians, even though it’s the government‘s responsibility to protect and secure their lives, according to the known natural social contract relationship between the civilian and the state, but in reality there is no state in Sudan, thus we in the Sudan Liberation Movement undertook the responsibility of protecting them, even if we had to go to war against those who deliberately attack them.
Q: When the movement recently signed the Nairobi Declaration with the former Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok , the deposed National Congress Party’s regime media launched vicious attack on the movement, at one time claiming that the movement participation in the war, and in another time criticizing the movement’s positions., what do you attribute their doing to?
A: Dr. Abdalla Hamdok is the legitimate Prime Minister and he is a zealous patriotic Sudanese, we; in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army have an absolute trust on him, according to our previous experiences with him, which started in Paris.
We held three meetings with him in Nairobi and Juba, and it became abundantly clear to us that, the man had in him the pulse of the nation and the people, therefore; we don’t have any reservations towards him and to meet him again at anytime, anywhere, and we believe that, we will work together, in order to stop the ongoing war and ultimately achieve the desired democratic transformation and the equal citizenship state that the Sudanese people had long yearned for.
As for my signature with Dr. Abdalla Hamdok, I want to say this; we are like the rest of Sudanese who work persistently and tirelessly to see to it that, the ongoing devastating war stop, and further strive to realize peace, this is a huge effort, so far we have exerted and still exerting as a movement.
Besides; we also signed with him just like the way others did, { by others} here I mean, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- North ( SPLM-N) led by general Abdel Aziz Adam al- Hilu, and our efforts will not cease or crippled by criticism , “ we will continue working with all Sudanese who believe in establishing a genuine state”.
To this end, we are in touch with him to build the largest national front, that will stand against the war and align with the Sudanese people, in order to end the rule of the military junta, the rule of the Islamic movement, which divided and amputated Sudan and transformed it, from one promising, rising and inspiring country in the world, into two divided countries that persistently suffering from weakness and perpetual wars.
The Islamists took us back to the Stone Age, but with the will of the Sudanese people and our solidarity, as a force we will be able to topple this junta and start building a state of citizenship and equal rights.
Regarding the criticisms of the Islamic movement to us, we rebelled against them or precisely the Islamized regime of Sudan, because in reality they are the furthest people from the Islam religion, we fought them consecutively for 23 years and our position towards them is principled and unwavering, therefore we declined to have any dialogue or rapprochement with them since 2006.
Whereas; in the most critical moments in the history of the movement, we stood alone with our principles against the entire world, yet we have a thorough knowledge of the Islamic movement; it is a despotic regime with tyrannical ideology, which is unsuitable in the twenty – first century.
Indeed; it became visible and comprehendible to everybody as the Sudanese crisis since 1956 is a political crisis, so we rebelled against them and our goal is crystal-clear, to build a secular, liberal, federal and democratic state, with clear separation of religion from the state institutions, state of equal citizenship, rule of law and state of institutions, but; the Sudanese Islamists instead of addressing the root causes to the problem through pursuing a political solution to the conflict, they inclined to divide the Sudanese civilians into blacks and Arabs, Muslims and non- Muslims .
Moreover; they created the Janjaweed militias as well as other paratroop militias, at one time they named them “ the mounting police” , until the UNSC issued a resolution to dissolve them, because they committed genocide and ethnic cleansing, hence they rename it as “ border guards ” and lately “ the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs)” .
After the eruption of the ongoings war between the Sudanese Armed Force (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs) , Al – Burhan announced the dissolving of the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs) and reinstituted the older border guards, into the service again, to the Islamist regime, establishing militias, dissolving, and creating a new or fixing the older one again, is like a chess game in which the pawns are moved or played , it is a chaotic mentality that cannot be cured.
Look!! After all the mess which they created and mayhem they inflicted on the people Al – Burhan will simply come and shed tears of sorrow to the Sudanese people, as if they did or doing nothing.
On the contrary; the issue of their criticism to us is a pride for the movement, because as long as the Islamic movement speaks highly of us, that mean we are done and finished, they must always speak ill of us because they know that, we are their uncompromising arch- foe.
Q: After giving a sign to Nairobi declaration, in the accord there is a provision of delivering of unfettered relief through neighboring countries, did you mange to find countries through which relief can be passed, mainly as the belligerent parties prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid from Port Sudan city?
A: We as a movement embarked on and initiated something and made our opinion clear that; the United Nations law with Sudan is impractical, because the United Nations’ law insist on the issue of sovereignty, and one of the prerequisites for the sovereignty is that, the state must be in full control of its territory, whilst in case of Sudan, everybody knows that, the state is incapable and not in full control of that territory, and pragmatically speaking, today; in Sudan there exist four sovereignties, the first of which is us, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, we control one third( 1/3) of the area of Darfur, which is mass area larger than the state of Belgium, and no one will be able to enter those areas that we control without our permission or exactly without obtaining authorization from the civil authority of the movement, which will enable you to exit areas which is under our sovereignty .
Also there is Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- North (SPLM-N) led by general Abdel Aziz Al- Hilu which control South Kordofan/ Nuba Mountains and south of the Blue Nile state, in addition to; the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs) which control vast territories of Sudan in Darfur, Kordofan, Al Jazeera, central Sudan and Khartoum, and there is Sudan’s Armed Force (SAF) which control Port Sudan city, these are four sovereignties that realistically exist on the ground, consequently; relief cannot come from Port Sudan to Darfur and Kordofan, therefore; we as a movement talked to organizations and still talking that, this is the naked reality; and nothing good will come from sticking to pseudo sovereignty which doesn’t exist on the ground, or else people will die in mass, as they are already dying, or they have to deal with the reality as its to save lives, however; there is small amount of relief which start coming from other crossings which we consider a good response, though the gap still huge.
Regarding the coordination with countries, we are non – state actors thus, we don’t coordinate with countries, but we do that with organizations, yet we often talk with the governments of these countries and in case there is any obstacle we work together in order to surmount it.
Q: Sudan; according to the report of some international organizations is facing endangerments that threaten its very existence, some believe that, the international community’s response to the crisis in Sudan is weak, what appeal do you make to the world community regarding the crisis?
A: First and foremost; we reiterate that, Sudan’s crisis is a political crisis as Sudanese in entire history of Sudan never sat down at all, to establish state or agree on how to rule the country with unanimous social contract ,that is why the ongoing war is the consequent of the political conflicts since 1956, as the political crisis was turned into military confrontations to preserve the structure of the racist state, that was formed in 1956 by the colonial powers, so; it is not state of equal citizenship, rule of law and social justice, accordingly; our appeal to the world community is that; the process of patching up the country through signing of the piecemeal agreements from 1956 until now is futile and Sudan must be fundamentally changed.
By the way; some assume that, the terminology of “state of 1956” was coined by the Rapid Support Forces (RSFs) , which is utterly untrue, because we in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, and before us, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement led by the God father of Sudan’s emancipation late Dr. John Garang De Mabior, and even during the time of Anya Nya One, all these forces demanded as we still demanding social justice and struggled for bring down the state of 1956, and create a new state that, represent all Sudanese and from there came the name “ new Sudan”.
Hence; the mental terrorism which was exercised by the radical Islamists ( Kizan) of Sudan now is nonsense, at least for us, in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army we freed our minds from this mental and intellectual sheer terrorism, which was practiced by the terrorists of the political Islam group, because we are a liberation Movement, all in all; Sudan’s crisis is political crisis and must be resolved politically , and not security – wise as is happening now, it won’t work.
Q: A heavy burden had fallen on your movement in the liberated territories, in terms of providing security and humanitarian support, especially after the movements of Minni Minawi and Jibril Ibrahim changed their positions and joined the war fighting in the side of the Sudanese Armed Force (SAF) , which led to the collapse of the humanitarian situation in Al Fashir city that caused unfathomable suffering to civilians. Could you share your perspective on this?
A: We as a movement have our vision, but you know “Don’t befriend someone who always changing his/her colors, who tilt where the wind blows” as the poet said.
Consequently;; the vision of the Sudan liberation Movement/Army paved the way for us to proceed, and for this reason, we don’t flounder when there is a tricky situation in Sudan, as is happening to a lot of people now due to the ongoing war, our position is straightforward; we want to create equal citizenship state, and our struggle, is with the current regime and its intergenerational struggle.
For the most part, we confronted them with our national project (vision/idea), and we always offer solutions, above all, what concerns us is the homeland and its civilians wherever they are, unfortunately; in Sudan the political practice, is measured in terms of, how much will they pay you? Or what position will you get?
In comparison; we in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army cannot be bought for pennies or positions, because the homeland has no price, if the entire universe’s money was given to you, there is nowhere you can get a homeland to buy, for this reason, if they gave us the whole world’s money, they will not buy us, or they gave us any position, no matter how tempting or advantageous it is, we are priceless fortified characters and we only seek and strive to realize our national project.
It is true that, we as a movement bear and carry weighty burden on our shoulders, but according to our project and modest capabilities we managed to provide security to our civilians as I mentioned early, plus we succeeded to implement our project in the liberated territories, we also strive diligently to fulfill our national project in the whole of Sudan in the near future, and the vision is an idea that will not die out, that shall be passed down from generation to generation, until total victory is achieved.
Regarding my earlier point of the humanitarian catastrophe at the liberated territories and the onerous burden on us as a movement, in the midst of our limited capabilities, we appeal to all capable Sudanese people to stand with us as we struggle to create genuine and just Sudan, a homeland that will accommodate everyone, and we have the will, capabilities and all what it takes to achieve that.
Q: As both sides to the conflict insist to continue the unwinnable war, the international community, might think to implement the article seven of the United Nations charter and the use of force; do you expect that to happen?
A: these are dreams that are not grounded in reality, and we can’t build upon it , because no side or government that will bring its forces, besides; there is Syria, Yemen, Libya as well as many other countries in the world that became failed states, so; if we want to bet, we must bet on our ability to unite as Sudanese first, afterward; have one national project, and establish a robust national civil front, and if necessity or circumstances compel us, build a united military front, to end the tyranny of the fanatical Islamists “ Kizan” , and we must all stand and work together in unison in order to create an equal citizenship state.
Finally; there must be no impunity, everyone who committed a crime against the Sudanese people must be held accountable, including me the chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.
Thank you1
