The head of the Supreme Council for Beja tribal chiefdoms, Mohamed al-Amin Terik, threatened to declare war in eastern Sudan if the Sudanese authorities refused to grant the region a separate negotiating platform for self-determination.
Terik who rejects the Juba peace agreement supported the military coup of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and ended by rallying two Darfur groups that stand against the framework agreement when the military component struck a political agreement with the pro-democracy and anti-coup political forces.
Also, the tribal leader appeared with the Islamists and groups that allied with the former regime of Omer al-Bashir under the Initiative of Sudan’s People, sending a confusing message about the nature of his claims.
In a speech delivered before his supporters in the Mweta area of Kassala state near the Eritrean border on Sunday, January 1, the Hadandawa tribal leader called for a separate process to negotiate self-determination for eastern Sudan.
“We demand a separate negotiating platform if the government positively responds to (our demand) we are with the unity and strength of Sudan., But if it refuses, we will inevitably declare war, and we will withstand as our former fighters did,” he said.
During his speech, Terik raised, one after another, several unexploded cannon shells and heavy weapons ammunition the army dropped in the Mweta area during the war against the former rebel East Front before the signing of a peace agreement in 2006.
“We will return to the air and artillery bombardment, and I salute the people of these border areas who stood firm during the years of war,” he said.
He declared their categorical refusal to participate in a workshop on eastern Sudan’s plight, which the signatories of the political framework agreement intend to hold in the coming days to set out plans to settle the crisis.
In addition, Terik spoke about preparations underway he undertook to forge a new alliance gathering groups from the greater central Sudan including northern, eastern and central Sudan as well as Kordofan region to achieve autonomy.
“Deluded are those who think that they could rule us from Khartoum,” he further stressed.
In response to calls to control power in Sudan by Darfurian components, several former Sudanese army officers from the greater Central Sudan announced the formation of armed groups to defend their regions.
Terik went further to reiterate his rejection of the framework agreement and described it as a “foreign agreement”, calling to hold a round table conference with the participation of all the people of Sudan.
The call for an inclusive round table conference is the main demand of the Initiative of Sudan’s People which holds regular rallies outside the UNITAMS premises in Khartoum calling to end foreign intervention in Sudan.
In November 2022, Abdallah Obshar, former rapporteur of the Supreme Council of Beja chiefdoms and head of a dissident group reiterated their demand for self-determination for eastern Sudan saying it was one of the demands of the Sinkat Conference held in October 2020.
Source: Sudan Tribune