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The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or (Arabic: حركة تحرير السودانḥarakat taḥrīr as-Sūdan) (abbreviated as either SLM or SLA) is a Sudanese rebel group. It was founded as the Darfur Liberation Front^[1] by members of three indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur, the Fur, the Zaghawa and the Masalit.^[2] among whom were Abdul Wahid al Nur of the Fur and Minni Minnawi of the Zaghawa.^[2]

[edit] Formation

General Omar al-Bashir, and the National Islamic Front headed by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, overthrew the Sudanese government led by Ahmed al-Mirghani in 1989. A large section of the population in Darfur, particularly the non-Arab ethnicities in the region, became increasingly marginalized.^[3][4] These feeling were crystallized by the publication in 2000 of The Black Book, that detailed the structural inequity in the Sudan. In 2002 Abdul Wahid al Nur, a lawyer, Ahmad Abdel Shafi Bassey, an education student, and a third man founded the Darfur Liberation Front which was subsequently renamed the Sudan Liberation Movement, and claimed to represented all of the oppressed in the Sudan.^[1]

[edit] History

By 2006 the SLM had divided into two groups, one led by al Nur and the other, far larger, led by Minnawi. Minnawi signed the Darfur Peace Accords;^[5] however, al Nur did not, as his concerns about restitution for victims had not been addressed.^[6]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Flint, Julie and De Waal, Alexander (2008) Darfur: A New History of a Long War Zed Books, London, p. 90, ISBN 978-1-84277-949-1
2. ^ ^{a b} BBC Staff (24 February 2009) "Who are Sudan's Darfur rebels?" BBC News
3. ^ Flint, Julie and De Waal, Alexander (2008) Darfur: A New History of a Long War Zed Books, London, pp. 16-17, ISBN 978-1-84277-949-1
4. ^ Jok, Jok Madut (2007) Sudán: Race, Religion and Violence Oneworld, Oxford, p. 4 ISBN 978-1-85168-366-6
5. ^ "Darfur Peace Agreement Fact Sheet" Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, May 2006, from Internet Archives
6. ^ Staff (December 2006) "No Dialogue, No Commitment: The Perils of Deadline Diplomacy for Darfur" Sudan Issue Brief Number 4, p. 3, Human Security Baseline Assessment, Small Arms Survey, Geneva, Switzerland, from Internet Archives

[edit] External links

• al-Nur, Abdel Wahid "SLM statement on the secular state" Sudan Tribune 3 January 2007, from Internet Archive
• Reed, Ryan Spencer (2007) "Darfur Photographic Exhibition - The Cost of Silence" - Documentary photographer's images of Sudan's rebels including the Sudan Liberation Army