Darfur Armed Opposition Groups and Coalitions

At the military level in the field, all the Darfur rebel factions are cooperating, exhibiting a pragmatic survival instinct that is rallying the disparate militias against their common enemies. The Sudanese government has stepped up hostilities since early 2011, focusing on the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) stronghold of Jebel Marra and the Zaghawa-held areas of North and South Darfur such as Shangal Tobaiya, where SLA-Minni Minawi (SLA-MM) draws strength.
Minawi's about-face and rejection of the Abuja Agreement in December 2010 pushed him back into rebellion, triggering a new cycle of violence as the government pursued his forces and their affiliated ethnic populations. Beginning in December, North Darfur Governor Osman Kibbir launched an offensive against towns where SLA-MM had a presence. First the rebels were targeted, but then the focus shifted to the Zaghawa population. The Government of Sudan (GoS) armed and encouraged non-Zaghawa ethnic groups living with the Zaghawa to expel them, with exhortations to reclaim their land from 'the new settlers'. Much of the new displacement in Darfur in March–June 2011 was a result of this purge and the indiscriminate aerial bombardment of Jebel Marra. A particularly egregious case of anti-Zaghawa killing occurred in Abu Zerega, close to the North Darfur capital of al Fasher. The perpetrators, as in other attacks on Zaghawa, were non-Arab militias, specifically Tunjur and some Birgid. These fighters even attacked Zaghawa members of a government investigative committee on a fact-finding mission to the area. Both SLA-MM and SLA-AW fought against government forces around these towns, capturing vehicles, arms, and ammunition. Among the displaced, many of those of fighting age joined the SLA-MM rather than move to IDP camps.
SLA-AW has settled in Kampala, Uganda, after being all but expelled from its longtime base in Paris. Ugandan officials say publicly that support for SLA-AW is motivated by ideology (Abdul Wahid Mohamed al Nur was formerly a Sudan Communist Party adherent), but confidentially they admit that it is a tit-for-tat response to the GoS's perceived support for the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). GoS sources firmly deny government support for the LRA and argue that Uganda's real goal in aiding SLA-AW is a dominant relationship with the new Republic of South Sudan. Ugandan assistance to SLA-AW is, in any case, extremely limited, mainly confined to hosting the rebel group in Kampala.
The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) has announced a form of rapprochement, if not unity, that brings its former secretary-general (Minni Minawi) and its chairman (Abdul Wahid) closer than they have been since the split. SLA-Mother (also known as SLA-Abu Gasim), led by Abu al Gasim Imam al Haj, a signatory to the Abuja Agreement, has also entered into alliance with SLA-AW. A former governor of West Darfur and state minister, Abu al Gasim defected from the government to rejoin his former comrades on 20 May 2011.
On 3 October 2011, the Sudanese Bloc to Liberate the Republic (SBLR) announced it was joining the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). SBLR leader Magoub Hussein, formerly a member of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), was relieved of his post as vice chairman for political and media affairs on 14 July 2011 after he was accused of negotiating a separate track with the GoS in Doha.
On 13 November, SLA-MM, SLA-AW, JEM, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) formed a coalition named the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF). While aspiring to be a unified political structure, the SRF is, at this stage, more a coalition of military forces with broad agreement on a political vision. Whether it becomes more than just a loose political and military affiliation remains to be seen. Its main platform is the need for a geographically comprehensive peace process and the further unification of all Sudanese opposition forces.
The Darfurian components of the SRF have pledged not to enter into armed hostilities with the LJM, a signatory of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, allaying fears of a repeat of the intra-Darfurian fighting that characterized the period following the partial signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006.
The SRF alliance survived the killing of JEM Chairman Khalil Ibrahim on 25 December 2011. On 20 February 2012, the SRF announced its new leadership structure. Malik Agar and Abdul Aziz al Hilu, both SPLM-N leaders, were named chairman and deputy chairman respectively. The leaders of the three constituent Darfur movements—JEM, SLA-MM, and SLA-AW—were each given a vice-presidency. The Darfur movements contested Agar’s leadership but with the backing of the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), now crucial to the Darfur movements and the SRF, his mandate was secured.
Some forecast that JEM will draw closer to other SRF members and also adopt a more flexible position on negotiations with the GoS in the wake of Khalil Ibrahim’s passing. This analysis derives from JEM being weaker now, and also because Khalil Ibrahim was a controversial figure for South Sudanese members of the SRF due to his Islamist past. Khalil Ibrahim also regularly took strong positions against negotiating with the GoS, and his attitude was not shared by the whole of JEM. One JEM faction, known to be more Darfur-centric, saw the Doha negotiations as a missed opportunity for the movement. This view may become more ascendant within JEM now.
Click here for information on the 2011 turmoil in Libya and the Darfur conflict.
Updated 29 February 2012


Click here for information on the following specific groups and coalitions:
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and splinters
Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) and splinters
Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minawi (SLA-MM) and splinters
Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM)
Other
Click here for information on Chadian armed opposition groups operating in Darfur and Eastern Chad.


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