Origins/composition
SLA-MM evolved from a Fur-Zaghawa split in the SLA and is led by members of the Zaghawa tribe who took up arms less to oppose the Islamist government in Khartoum than to fight the 'janjaweed', their rivals in the camel trade in North Darfur. The split between Minawi and the Fur leader Abdul Wahid Mohamed al Nur was the first in a series of divisions along tribal lines that fatally weakened the SLA insurgency. It led to personal power struggles that undercut the credibility of the two groups among their own grassroots. By 2011, SLA-MM and SLA-Abdul Wahid- both much weakened and both under attack by government troops and airplanes- were reportedly considering a new era of cooperation. At the same time, however, SLA field commanders deeply disenchanted with the two men and their long absence from the field-Minawi in Khartoum and Abdel Wahid in Paris-were engaged in quiet behind-the-scenes talks to form a reunited SLA independent of its original leaders, and with structures, accountability, and a clear political vision.
Leadership
Before the split in the SLA, Minawi, formerly a primary school teacher, succeeded in controlling the movement's main military forces despite having no military experience. In 2005 he signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) with the government, becoming senior assistant to President Omar al-Bashir and chairman of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA). The positions were nominal, his power negligible. His position as senior assistant to the president was not renewed after the general elections of April 2010 and towards the end of 2010 he moved from Khartoum to Juba, declaring the DPA dead.
Areas of control/activity
After signing the DPA, Minawi had no access to rebel-controlled areas of Darfur but was able to move freely in government-controlled areas. Most of his forces were divided into companies (approximately 100 men) and stationed in the Zaghawa homeland in North Darfur-around the state capital, al Fasher, and the town of Um Berro-and in a pocket south-east of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state. In the April elections, which were boycotted by DPA non-signatories, SLA-MM won parliamentary seats in North Darfur (Kutum) and South Darfur (Gereida).
Four months after the elections, in August 2010, Minawi agreed to renew his 'political partnership' with Khartoum and endorsed the government's new strategy for peace, condemned as a 'war strategy' by groups that did not sign the DPA. He retained his position as head of the TDRA but was not formally re-appointed as senior assistant to the president. Soon after, he moved to Juba.
On 3 December 2010, an army spokesman declared that Minawi's forces had become a 'legitimate target'. SLA-MM immediately came under heavy attack in North and South Darfur states. Some fighters moved into the northern fringe of Southern Sudan. In January 2011, Minawi said a decision by Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir to expel the Darfur armed movements from the South concerned only movements that had not signed peace agreements with Khartoum. One month earlier, on 12 December, he had declared the DPA dead.
Sources of financing/support
Until Minawi moved to Juba, many of his men enjoyed government salaries and other benefits stemming from the DPA, including vehicles. The SLA-MM office in Khartoum was subsidized to the tune of USD 1 million per month, and SLA-MM fighters received logistical support from the government. In December 2010, however, all support to SLA-MM ceased. Offices, financial assets, and vehicles were seized, and Minawi himself was removed as head of the TDRA.
Status
Targeted by the government, distrusted by many Darfurians, and no longer a favourite of the US government, SLA-MM will have little impact in the fight for rights in Darfur unless it ends its isolation and builds alliances with other factions. The defection of senior commanders that began even before Minawi signed the DPA continued throughout his almost five years in the presidential palace in Khartoum, during which he was perceived by many Darfurians as enriching himself without addressing their suffering in any meaningful way.
Updated January 2011