My Stay In Juba Not For Bad Intentions, Says Mini Arko Minawi

11 November 2010 – (Juba) – The Chairman of the faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Mini Arko Minawi, has denied claims by the federal government that Darfur anti-government groups have found a safe haven in southern Sudan.

This week, the National Intelligence and Security Services Chief Mohamed Atta Al-Moula asked the GOSS to arrest elements of the Darfur anti-government groups who are allegedly operating from southern Sudan.

Speaking to SRS on Thursday from Juba, Minawi claimed that the government in Khartoum is only trying to divert attention from its evils by issuing such statements.

[Mini Arko Minawi]: “No, this is just a maneuver, I don’t think that it is true because everybody is sure that southern Sudan will not detain any person from Darfur because of the requirement of the national security and also I don’t think that there are very key persons from Darfur political opposition parties here to hand over to Sudan government. Also they are raising this because they also have many people detained and they are also harassing the people of southern Sudan in Khartoum and still they have some opposition against the government of southern Sudan. That is why they are maneuvering to delete what exactly they are doing there. I don’t think they are serious to say something like that. They know where the Darfur opposition people are, some of them in Libya, some in Paris, some in different places and they have good relations with Cairo and many of them are in Cairo. If they want them handed over to them, they have to ask Cairo and Gadaffi before others.”

Minawi says plans in an advanced stage to unite all Darfur anti-government groups. He also added that Sudanese political forces work together to redesign the Sudan after the referendum in southern Sudan and Abyei.

[Mini Arko Minawi]: “My plan is a collective plan. Everybody has to unite, all the people of Darfur and all the voice should be raised together, I don’t think the problem will just be maintained in Darfur it can also spread to other states in Sudan because after the referendum whatever the case, either unity or secession I think there will be no new political and social position in the northern Sudan and that time I think there will also be many people and many political parties and many activists from the civil community, all these groups will come together to redesign the Sudan that is what should be.”

The SLM-Minawi’s faction was the only anti-government group that signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 with the government. However, Minawi has constantly accused the government of not fully implementing the agreement.