Head of Darfur Authority accused of fraud over DDR programme

Dr El Tijani Sese has been accused of entering fighters of his personal militia into the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) programme, instead of ex-combatants of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).

In a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday, LJM’s Secretary-General, Bahar Idris Abu Garda, claimed that Sese, head of both the LJM and the Darfur Regional Authority, has pilfered the names of combatants who belonged to the movement before the signing of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) in May 2011. He said that Sese instead submitted the personal details of fighters close to him, as well as troops of his own militia, to the Security Arrangements Commission.

Abu Garda explained that other LJM military commanders informed him about the fraud, during a recent visit to Nyala, capital of South Darfur, where the DDR programme was launched.

He again criticised the performance level of the DRA. “The poor performance of the DRA has affected the already instable security situation in Darfur,” he stressed.

In an earlier press conference in Khartoum, on 28 December, he noted that the DRA performance “has not achieved the level required”. 

“The poor performance of the DRA has affected the already instable security situation in Darfur.” 

The LJM, formed in 2010 by 19 breakaway factions of the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement, signed the DDPD in 2011 with the Sudanese government. The DDPD’s security arrangements protocol stipulated the implementation of the DDR within 45 days after the conclusion of the peace agreement. It took more than three years before the first batches started with the DDR programme.

DRA Minister of Reconstruction, Development, and Infrastructure, Tajeldin Bashir Niyam, has criticised the Authority’s performance too. Earlier this week, he told Dabanga Sudan that the lack of accountability at the DRA has contributed to the deteriorating situation in Darfur.

“If the $2 billion of DRA funds had been used appropriately, it would have changed many Darfuri lives. But most of that money went into some people’s pockets,” he claimed.