Abdel Wahid warns UNAMID against handing Kalma Five to Khartoum

The founder and chairman of the original Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel Wahed Mohamed Al Nur, warned the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur against handing over five displaced people from Kalma Camp who are wanted by the government. Six Kalma camp leaders are wanted for arrest for their alleged role in instigating violence in late July. The violence was related to the Doha peace talks, which hard-line sheikhs in the camp insisted on boycotting. After the violence in Kalma, the wanted camp leaders sought refuge with peacekeepers at the UNAMID police center in Kalma. Consequently, the peacekeepers came under pressure from the Sudanese government to hand over the camp leaders. The UN has appeared willing, conditionally, to hand over five of the six suspects. Under orders from UN Headquarters in New York, the civilian leader of the peacekeeping mission, Ibrahim Gambari, told the government that it must first provide assurances that the suspects would be afforded due process of law and would not be not receive the death penalty. Abel Wahid warned that if UNAMID agrees to a handover, its task in Darfur will have finished and it will have turned into an enemy and participant in the genocide with the National Congress Party. He said that this would bring about an end to the cooperation between UNAMID and the movement. Abdel Wahid called on the audience of Radio Dabanga to remain calm for now. He also called on the displaced not to accede to any of the demands of the government. Gambari’s correspondence on this issue, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Karti, was leaked to Inner City Press in New York, and then reported by the website Sudan Tribune. According to the published documents, the Sudanese foreign minister wrote to Gambari to assure him that the Kalma Five would not be put to death. He assured him that, if the suspects are convicted, the government would pressure families of the deceased to exercise their right to waive the death penalty. He also noted that the President of the Republic has the power of clemency. Gambari responded that “UNAMID and the Government would work together on the practical steps to ensure that the five individuals concerned are transferred to the relevant authorities of the Government,” after the government accepts some additional terms. These terms included a demand for unrestricted access to the Kalma Five by human rights monitors once they are placed under arrest, as well as a promise that Bashir will exercise “the prerogative of mercy… in the event that the death penalty is imposed on the accused.” A spokesman of the UN-African Union Mission, Chris Cycmanick, confirmed to the Nairobi-based Sudan Radio Service on Wednesday that this issue was being discussed “at the highest levels.” He would not say anything about the substance of the talks, citing “the confidentiality of these discussions.” However, he insisted that “there is nothing going on in terms of the handover.”(Photo: Ibrahim Gambari, left)LinksDraft Letter from UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to Sudan FM Ali Karti (pdf)Gambari’s ‘additional terms’ for the handover of the Kalma Five (pdf)