November 17, 2011

Beja Congress joins armed alliance


Old Beja Congress Logo. The new logo has two knives, and no gun.

From a published report.

The Beja Congress, a Sudanese armed opposition group, announced on Tuesday that they had joined the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).

The SRF is a newly formed alliance of armed opposition groups in the country since November 11. It comprises Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM) apart from the Beja Congress.

A statement issued by the Beja Congress said that its decision to join would help restore human dignity in Sudan in general and specifically with respect to the Beja minority.

The movement said that it had engaged in intensive consultations with many organizations and movements in eastern Sudan and had arrived at the decision to join the SRF.

The statement reinstated that the Beja people had been languishing for many years. “In fact the misery and suffering of the people is increasing due to poverty, starvation and other deadly diseases. The ruling regime in Sudan is subjecting its people to humiliation and tyranny. They are arrogant and killing the marginalized people,” the statement read.

It also pointed out the inaction of the government in the wake of the current economic crisis and inflation.

The newly created Sudan Revolutionary Front says its aim is to overthrow the Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party through all means, including violence. The group consists of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, the Justice and Equality Movement, and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.

The group said it believes Sudan’s government is at a weak point economically, politically and militarily. [Read this analysis of Bashir's problems.]

“The [Khartoum] regime is imploding and will vanish, like other corrupt regimes around us that have come to rely on repression to retain power,” the group said. “It has humiliated our people and dismembered our homeland. Should its rule continue, it would lead to further division in Sudan.”

Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, said the group could force Khartoum to face the “daunting prospect of fighting resource-draining wars on several fronts, with the likely shut-down of oil extraction and transport from the south.”

Khartoum’s National Congress Party said the Sudan Revolutionary Front is planning to carry out acts of sabotage to lead Sudan into a crisis. The official news agency quoted a ruling party spokesman, Yassir Yusuf, as saying that the government of South Sudan should “distance itself and lift its hand to stop providing assistance to rebel movements in Sudan.”

Meanwhile South Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun called the SRF a “miserable alliance.”

Radio Dabanga and Washington Post.




UPDATE: For further analysis of the political efforts to reduce the impact of the SRF, read this piece that is aggressively critical of Umma party leader Sadig Almahdi.


SIDE NOTE - OFF TOPIC. There are now 300 posts on this blog.  You get current news about the Beja people on this blog, and for learning more about the Beja people, please visit adroub.net

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