Sudan: former rebel leader Minni Minnawi appointed governor of Darfur
Former rebel leader Minni Minnawi in Juba in August 2019. AFP - AKUOT CHOL
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2 min
Minni Minnawi, a former rebel leader of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), was appointed governor of Darfur on Sunday (May 2) by the Sudanese prime minister.
He becomes the highest state official in the province still torn by violence.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi,
Sébastien Németh
The choice is not a surprise.
Minni Minnawi's name had been circulating since the beginning of the year.
The 52-year-old former educator, an early rebel from North Darfur, was also officially a candidate for the post.
He had already held a similar position, between 2006 and 2010. At the time, Minni Minnawi complained about the lack of cooperation of the former power, before slamming the door.
But today, the context is quite different.
Several foreign representatives, based in Khartoum, have also welcomed this appointment seen as further progress in the implementation of the peace agreement.
Indeed, the compromise signed in Juba provided for the arrival of a governor for all of Darfur, currently divided into five regions, a step towards the future federal Sudan provided for by the document.
After his appointment, Minni Minnawi himself said he hoped to “
work in good harmony
” with the transitional authorities.
No law has specified its prerogatives, but we know that it will have to organize, as soon as possible, a conference on Darfur where the situation is very worrying.
The province has seen regular ethnic clashes, localities under attack, a mixed soldier-former rebel force - still not in place - and the main Darfuri rebel group, Abdelwahid Al Nur's SLA, still refuses to negotiate.
The movement also considers the former rebels as opportunists who signed the peace to gain power.
Precisely, Minni Minnawi had been Abdelwahid Al Nur's assistant in the early 2000s. We will see if this old collaboration will be useful, twenty years later.
Read also: Sudan: with the last rebels from Darfur
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