Abdel Wahid El Nur is a real patriot who has seen and witnessed firsthand the cunning and uppity-prone behavior of the Khartoum government. Just as many writers have pointed out, Sudan is in a rush and in dire pain to sign peace with all Darfur rebels in order to embark on its Southern Sudan schemes of Jihadism. They know pretty well that no army in Sudan will ever succeed against the SPLM/A without the plethora of power that comes from the Fur, the Baggara, and Eastern Sudan’s Beja people. For this, they are looking for fighters. But wounded fighters can better be your enemies. And a wounded friend should not obey his former enemy in a masqueraded face.
A Chinese renowned general, Sun Tzu had this testimony in his memoirs, The Art of War: "There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, and positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed." Alexander the Great later successfully used Tzu’s military wits to conquer his known world at the time and spread the Hellenistic culture with a great record. The memoir would be superficially interpreted in various ways to meet the need of the vanquished.
In this case, the people of Darfur must solve the dilemma they have with Khartoum. There are enemies that you must not enter into an agreement with when they so wished. But this is up to the people of Eastern Sudan and Darfur to decide: for how long will they keep fighting for the plunderers and mass murderers of their people; for how long will a people continue to suffer in the struggles in which they are not rewarded? They will have to choose. Any rushed peace with the Fur this time is just a moratorium asking them to stop for a while, and coercing them to turn and fight the South, and later, they will have to be thrashed completely according to the procured tactical order. That will be a justified peace to end in the total extermination of the Fur people.
It will be wise, as Nur seems to understand, to hold on until the rights of Fur people are guaranteed and grievances addressed before signing any elusive peace. The people of Southern Sudan know what is going on in Darfur and that is why Bashir had refused categorically not to allow GOSS to take part in the peace processes in Darfur. The point is clear here: both Darfur and South Sudan are equal enemies of the Islamic government in Khartoum and bringing them together may lead to a formidable alliance. As serendipitous as the case indicates, the people of Darfur must not be dubbed into the peace of ambition by Khartoum, which will result in their total miscalculations. It would be wise to maintain the course of struggle and Southerners to bolster a firm grip on CPA. Should anything happen, it will be fine for the two parties to go on the drawing board on equal practicum.
Khartoum must come to terms with the fact that the people of Darfur do not feed on the Quran. They need health facilities across Darfur, not only in Nyala; sustained formal education, not basic Islam which leaves the masses so illiterate to be knowledgeable Muslims; sustainable food provision and sources, not crowding the people at water points with nomad Arabs thereby brooding hot tempers and frequent civil clashes; water, electricity and improved infrastructure. These are some of the basic services that the government of Sudan has denied them for half a century. A government that can do this will be a government led by the son of Darfur. No amount of polite promises will suffice the suffering of Darfur people. Fallacious propaganda must not waiver the movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement, but ironically takes the weaknesses and lies from the Islamic government in Khartoum as the cornerstone to re-establish the strength and unity towards a unified fight for the people of Darfur.
A few days ago, SLA general commander, Abdel Gadir Abdel Rahman Ibrahim, alias, Gadora, was reported to have defected from El Nur’s SLA/M to join another rebel movement. This was the work of Sudan-Government-bought-Darfuri-man, El-Tijani El-Sissi Ateem. El-Tigani had worked tirelessly to please his masters in Khartoum while equivocally undermining the justified struggle of the people of Darfur for their rights.
The wisdom that came from Gadora in reply can be equated with the position held steadfastly by the Darfuri strong man, El Nur himself. His answer was enough to thwart desperate hopes raised in Khartoum about a possible agreement with the rebels before referenda and popular consultations that will take place across the political spectrum presently known as Southern Sudan. He had this to say: " We are not against peace but opposed to untrue peace and the fabrication of rebel groups." Gadir, Sudan Tribune, September 28, 2010. El Nur had refused to accept Dr. Garang’s persuasions to be part of the SPLM/A in1990s, citing the rationale behind the absorption, and highlighting the circumspect that the SPLA/M manoeuvre to secure the South at the expense of the whole country would kill the aspirations of his people. He never thought for a second about the reason behind the sheer wisdom which had compelled the people of the Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains to join the SPLA/M as early as its inception in the 1980s.
It was such a brilliant thought from Wahid nevertheless, it lacked insight. And this lack of insight will, for a while, linger around Wahid and his group even though they always appear to be forgetful of this self-afflicted ordeal. The Darfur rebels later demanded that the CPA be made absolutely conclusive by providing a clause to accommodate both The SPLA/M and The Darfur movements, SLA/M and JEM, something earlier rejected by Wahid. Had the two movements joined the SPLA/M and followed Daud Bolad’s example, Darfur’s clause in the CPA would be the flashpoint for all marginalized Sudanese on January 9, 2011. Furthermore, SAF and Sudan government would singlehandedly be accountable for the atrocities committed in Darfur. But many Darfur leaders and Abdel Wahid did not heed this tactical vision in particular.
Daud Bolad was left to the mercy of the Sudan Armed Forces, which captured and killed him right in the middle of his people. As historical blunders are not often deemed to extinction, the vision that was turned down resurfaced like a phantom a few years later when the SPLA/M and the Sudan Government were in the quest for peace in the country. The first group to refuse the Darfur clause at the CPA negotiations in Kenya was the group led by the Sudan Government. They neither recognized that there was an ongoing conflict in Darfur that required any precaution to be similarly addressed just like the questions of Blue Nile, Southern Kordufan, and Southern Sudan, nor did it sound imperative to explain the real facts surrounding the war in Darfur. They convinced everybody, the troika, the IGAD, and other international observers that Darfur was not a concern that required greater attention like Southern Sudan. The situation in Darfur was described as a simple clash of the nomads at water points. Today we are talking of genocide.
The Red Army in Ethiopia in the 1980s sang a song entitled: ‘"what happened in the past Anya Nya struggle must not repeat itself." They sang this in presence of Dr. John Garang and other commanders in Fugnido, Ethiopia. That song was imprinted in the minds of Dr. John Garang and his military commanders who were steering the movement. They had kept it in their hearts and Garang chanted the shortened version of the song after he successfully negotiated and signed the six protocols in Nairobi, Kenya in 2005: “What happened long ago must not happen again.”
Abdel Wahid and his counterparts in the Darfur struggle must not let what happened to Daud Bolad’s Vision happen again. The souls of the perished Darfurians in the struggle demand that the aspirations of the people are prioritized and the outcome of any negotiations be substantial, prudent, bear no malice, and flawed free. This is the prism upon which a missed historical opportunity could be rescued for the pride of posterity.
