Khalil Ibrahim
Encyclopedia
Dr. Khalil Ibrahim is the leader of the Zaghawa-dominated Darfur
ian rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM).
branch of the Zaghawa ethnic group, which is located mainly in Sudan
, with a minority on the Chad side of the border. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the National Islamic Front
(NIF) seizure of power under the direction of Islamist
Hassan al-Turabi
in 1989. He also served as the state minister for education in Darfur between 1991 and 1994 in al-Fashir
, North Darfur
. A physician, Dr. Khalil spent four months in 1992 as a volunteer doctor in the paramilitary Sudan People's Armed Forces. By Ibrahim's own account, he was disaffected with the Islamist movement by 1993 after seeing the economic neglect of the NIF, as well as its support to armed militias. At this time, he became part of a covert cell of Islamists who were seeking to change the NiF from inside. Dr. Ibrahim went on to serve as the state minister for social affairs in Blue Nile in 1997 before a post as advisor to the governor of Southern Sudan in Juba
in 1998. However, others noted that he never received a national level appointment. Ibrahim's colleague in JEM, Ahmad Tugod, stated, "Khalil is not a first or even second class political leader. [...] He struggled all of his life to get a post in Khartoum
."Flint, Julie and Alex de Waal
, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, London March 2006, ISBN 1-84277-697-5, p. 91 He quit the post in August 1998, several months before the end of his appointment, and formed an NGO called "Fighting Poverty". In December 1999, when al-Bashir sidelined al-Turabi with the help of Ali Osman Taha
, Dr. Ibrahim was in the Netherlands
, studying for a Masters in Public Health at Universiteit Maastricht
.
In the meantime, the structure of covert cells that Ibrahim had helped set up in 1994 had spread to Khartoum. The dissidents, dubbing themselves the "The Seekers of Truth and Justice" published the Black Book
in 2000, claiming that riverine Arabs dominated political power and resources. Khalil Ibrahim sided with the breakaway Popular Congress party, who had split from President al-Bashir's party. In 2001, he was one of twenty people sent out of the country by the dissidents to go public. In August 2001, Ibrahim published a press release from the Netherlands
, in which he announced the formation of the Justice and Equality Movement
. The JEM has a relatively small ethnic base of support, being limited to the Kobe Zaghawa, including many kinsmen from across the Chadian border.
, actually carried out by the Sudan Liberation Army
, was mocked by the SLA and the JEM was forced to back away from their announcement. Regardless, the JEM and the anti-government SLA formed a loose alliance in prosecuting the Darfur conflict
.
In May 2006, the JEM rejected the Abuja peace process
, which was accepted by the faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi
, but rejected by the smaller SLA factions. On 30 June 2006, Ibrahim, Khamis Abdalla, the leader of an SLM faction, Dr Sharif Harir and Ahmed Ibrahim, co-leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (Sudan)
, founded the National Redemption Front
rebel group in Asmara
, Eritrea
but which is based in Chad
.
Ibrahim lived in exile in Libya
from May 2010 to September 2011, when the Libyan civil war
compelled him to flee across the Sahara
and return to Darfur
. The Sudan
ese government and diplomatic sources accused Ibrahim's group of rebels in Libya of fighting as mercenaries for Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi
during the war, charges to which Ibrahim has not responded.
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
ian rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement
Justice and Equality Movement
The Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...
(JEM).
History
Ibrahim is from the KobaKoba
Koba can refer to:* Koba, from the 1883 novel The Patricide by Alexander Kazbegi* Joseph Stalin, a pseudonym after Kazbegi's character* Koba , by Raymond Williams, based on Stalin's life but set in a fictional context....
branch of the Zaghawa ethnic group, which is located mainly in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, with a minority on the Chad side of the border. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the National Islamic Front
National Islamic Front
The National Islamic Front is the Islamist political organization founded and led by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi that has influenced the Sudanese government since 1979, and dominated it since 1989...
(NIF) seizure of power under the direction of Islamist
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
Hassan al-Turabi
Hassan al-Turabi
Dr. Hassan 'Abd Allah al-Turabi , commonly called Hassan al-Turabi , is a religious and Islamist political leader in Sudan, who may have been instrumental in institutionalizing sharia in the northern part of the...
in 1989. He also served as the state minister for education in Darfur between 1991 and 1994 in al-Fashir
Al-Fashir
Al Fashir or Al-Fashir is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a large town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan, 120 miles northeast of Nyala, Sudan....
, North Darfur
North Darfur
North Darfur is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the three states composing the Darfur region. It has an area of 296,420 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,583,000 . Al-Fashir is the capital of the state...
. A physician, Dr. Khalil spent four months in 1992 as a volunteer doctor in the paramilitary Sudan People's Armed Forces. By Ibrahim's own account, he was disaffected with the Islamist movement by 1993 after seeing the economic neglect of the NIF, as well as its support to armed militias. At this time, he became part of a covert cell of Islamists who were seeking to change the NiF from inside. Dr. Ibrahim went on to serve as the state minister for social affairs in Blue Nile in 1997 before a post as advisor to the governor of Southern Sudan in Juba
Juba, Sudan
Juba is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. It also serves as the capital of Central Equatoria, the smallest of the ten states of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County.- Population :In 2005, Juba's...
in 1998. However, others noted that he never received a national level appointment. Ibrahim's colleague in JEM, Ahmad Tugod, stated, "Khalil is not a first or even second class political leader. [...] He struggled all of his life to get a post in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
."Flint, Julie and Alex de Waal
Alex de Waal
Alexander William Lowndes de Waal is a British writer and researcher on African issues. He was a fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at Harvard University, as well as program director at the Social Science Research Council on AIDS in New York City...
, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, London March 2006, ISBN 1-84277-697-5, p. 91 He quit the post in August 1998, several months before the end of his appointment, and formed an NGO called "Fighting Poverty". In December 1999, when al-Bashir sidelined al-Turabi with the help of Ali Osman Taha
Ali Osman Taha
Ali Osman Mohammed Taha is the current First Vice President of Sudan. He had been the Second Vice President of Sudan of Sudan between August 2005 and July 2011. He held the position of first First Vice President from 1998 to August 2005...
, Dr. Ibrahim was in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, studying for a Masters in Public Health at Universiteit Maastricht
Universiteit Maastricht
Maastricht University is a public university in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Founded in 1976, the university is the second youngest in the Netherlands. The university's founding name was Rijksuniversiteit Limburg and was changed into Universiteit Maastricht in 1996...
.
In the meantime, the structure of covert cells that Ibrahim had helped set up in 1994 had spread to Khartoum. The dissidents, dubbing themselves the "The Seekers of Truth and Justice" published the Black Book
The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in the Sudan
The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in the Sudan, known commonly as the Black Book , is a manuscript purporting to detail a pattern of disproportionate political control by the people of northern Sudan and marginalization of the rest of the country...
in 2000, claiming that riverine Arabs dominated political power and resources. Khalil Ibrahim sided with the breakaway Popular Congress party, who had split from President al-Bashir's party. In 2001, he was one of twenty people sent out of the country by the dissidents to go public. In August 2001, Ibrahim published a press release from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, in which he announced the formation of the Justice and Equality Movement
Justice and Equality Movement
The Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...
. The JEM has a relatively small ethnic base of support, being limited to the Kobe Zaghawa, including many kinsmen from across the Chadian border.
Darfur conflict
On 5 March 2002, Dr. Ibrahim claimed credit for initiating a government revolt. This apparent claim of the landmark attack on GoloGolo, Sudan
Golo is a settlement and rural district located in West Darfur, Sudan. The start of the Darfur conflict is conventionally dated to an attack claimed by the Darfur Liberation Front upon Golo on 26 February 2003...
, actually carried out by the Sudan Liberation Army
Sudan Liberation Movement
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or is a Sudanese rebel group...
, was mocked by the SLA and the JEM was forced to back away from their announcement. Regardless, the JEM and the anti-government SLA formed a loose alliance in prosecuting the Darfur conflict
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
.
In May 2006, the JEM rejected the Abuja peace process
Abuja Agreement
Abuja Agreement or Abuja Accord may refer to:* Abuja Accord - peace treaty signed 19 August 1995 in an attempt to end the Liberian Civil War...
, which was accepted by the faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi
Minni Minnawi
Suliman Arcua Minnawi known as "Minni Minnawi" is the leader of the what once was the largest faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army until it was weakened by dissention and infighting...
, but rejected by the smaller SLA factions. On 30 June 2006, Ibrahim, Khamis Abdalla, the leader of an SLM faction, Dr Sharif Harir and Ahmed Ibrahim, co-leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (Sudan)
National Democratic Alliance (Sudan)
The National Democratic Alliance is a group of 13 political parties that formed in 1989 to oppose the new regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir after he seized power in a military coup on June 6, 1989. The NDA signed a deal with the Sudanese government on June 18, 2005, following a peace agreement to...
, founded the National Redemption Front
National Redemption Front
The National Redemption Front is an alliance of fighting groups in Darfur. According to their foundation declaration, the NRF consists of the Justice and Equality Movement , a holdout faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance...
rebel group in Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
, Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
but which is based in Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
.
Ibrahim lived in exile in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
from May 2010 to September 2011, when the Libyan civil war
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
compelled him to flee across the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
and return to Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
. The Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese government and diplomatic sources accused Ibrahim's group of rebels in Libya of fighting as mercenaries for Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
during the war, charges to which Ibrahim has not responded.