Introduction:

We firstly, offer a salute of respect, honour and faithfulness to our brave martyrs who sacrificed their blood and lives in order to protect and preserve the honour and pride of man and build, for our coming generation, a brighter future and decent life in which rights and freedoms are respected. A word of condolence is also due for the souls of the victims of injustice and dictatorship and for all the innocent lives taken by the hands of oppression and authoritarianism that adopted a scorched earth policy against our people in Darfur.

We also salute the internally displaced persons and refugees who were forcibly dislocated from their homes by the war criminals and who showed remarkable perseverance in the face of hardship and despair. And we salute the bravery of our comrades and fighters in the military fields and efforts of our negotiators who are exerting immense efforts to obtain the legitimate rights of our people. A word of compliment is also due to all those honourable people in Darfur in particular, and in Sudan and abroad in general who believe in, and support our struggle.

The JEM was established as a national movement seeking to absorb the social and cultural diversity in the country as a key element in the process of nation-building. The JEM literature have often criticised the attitude of the ruling minority riverian elites and their undermining of the cultural and historical diversity of Sudan. These elites sought to monopolise power, wealth and knowledge and exclude the other diverse peoples and culture that are essential components of Sudan.

Since the beginning of the marginalised people revolution in Darfur, the JEM has committed itself to completely observing the national nature of its principles and objectives to establish a country on the basis of recognising and absorbing the geographical, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in the country and build a decentralised system that ensures unity in diversity and diversity in unity. The great aspiration of the movement have attracted and motivated a wider section of the Sudanese people from all the regions of the country. However, the practical interpretation and application of the slogans of the Movement into a revolutionary reality has fallen short of the intended objectives, and we started to suffer a paradox that started to gradually distance the revolution from its stated objectives.

This has resulted from the fact that some leaders have barricaded themselves in the clans and hence they did not live up to the revolutionary horizon and the raised slogans. Instead, these leaders have completely failed in translating the aspiration of the populace into a revolutionary action, despite the enormous trust given to them by the masses from all tribes of Sudan. It is regrettable that actions of some leaders have imprisoned them into clan. This restricted the Movement and hindered its ability to create activity and comprehensive revolutionary work that includes and absorb the wider public participation of all the ethnic and regional rainbow.

Some leaders became stuck into the mud of tribe and became infected by the short-sightedness and clannishness that they were unable to see anything more than serving the clan. By doing so, those leaders have adopted the very strategies of the ruling group that the Movement was established to confront and challenge. This was represented in the following;
1- The absence of the institutionalism and the collective work approach, and the undertaking of individualistic decisions, and the attempt by some leaders to control the Movement and abort institutionalism in their actions and attitude.
2- Self-magnification and the search for charisma which hinders the leaders from feeling the public pain and worries.
3- The attempts to politicise race, undermining other, and pretending to be cleaver than them.
4- Adopting the policy of “whoever wakes up earlier shall acquire everything” instead of working together and moving together and equally on the right path to achieve our goals.
5- The challenges facing the rebellious movements in Darfur are similar to the problems that confronted all the political parties in Sudan since independence. These problems can be summarised as: the wider gulf between slogans and actions, as slogans are often raised simply to recruit followers. For example the Movement talks about the failure of the rulers in Sudan to unit its people and manage its resources in ways that benefit all the population, as a result of monopolisation of power by a minority that belongs to three tribes only (Jaaleen, Shaygia and Danagla) and the exclusion of all others. However, before the ink in which these words were written dried up, those leaders have reneged from the principles of the revolution and resorted to the narrow regionalistic, exclusionary and tribal approach, which is reflecting in the appropriation of financial resources, weapons and the attempt to dominate the key senior positions in the revolution work. For example a clan of one tribe, which is the President’s clan, dominate the following key positions:
a. The President of the Movement, the Deputy President and General Secretary of Darfur, the Commander of Chief of the Movement Army, the Foreign Affairs Secretary, the Political Affairs Secretary, the Financial and Economic Affairs Secretary, the Security and Intelligence Affair Secretary and the Secretary for the Affairs of Woman and Child.
b. In addition to the deputies of the following; the Chairman of the General Convection, the Chairman of the legislation Council, the General Secretary for Darfur, the Commander of Chief of the Movement Army, the Foreign Affairs Secretary, the Political Affairs Secretary, the Financial and Economic Affairs Secretary, the Security and Intelligence Affair Secretary and the Secretary for the Affairs of Woman and Child, the Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Secretary, the Social Affairs Secretary and the Presidential Affairs Secretary.
c. The Advisers of the President; the Adviser for Justice and Human Right Affairs, the Adviser for Financial and Economic Affairs, the Adviser for Security Affairs, the Adviser for Military Affairs, the Adviser Political Affairs, the Adviser for Foreign Affairs, the Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Affairs and the Adviser for Tribal Affairs; in other words all the Advisers.
d. The Movement Delegation in the Peace Negotiations; the Chief Negotiator, the chairman of the two negotiation committees in the Abuja out of three committees as well as the deputy of the third.
e. The African Union Committees; the Representatives of the Movement in the African Union Committees for Cease-fire only Four of the twenty eight members appointed for these roles were from the other tribes of Darfur while the reset are all from one clan, which is the clan of the President.

The Shortcomings of the Western Front:
1- The Movement has failed in the formation of a national army that represents the different elements of Darfur, leave alone those of Sudan.
2. The Movement has failed in managing the available resources and its distribution in a just manner throughout the military fields. This led to the deterioration of the army.
3. The use of kinship and favouritism, instead of competence. This led to the desertion of some leaders and made a large number of fighters to join the other movements.
4. The focus of the army in the clan of one tribe. This led to fierce competition within the sub-clans of the tribe and the appearance of bottlenecks and internal conflicts that contradicts the objectives of the Movement and wastes time and resources.
5. The individualistic-way of the President of the Movement in dealing with the field affairs and the absence of transparency. This led to repeated set-backs without reviewing the experience or affecting accountability.
6. A report was submitted to the President, following the N’djamena Agreement, about the short-comings of the internal military work. However, the President did not take any action.
7. Dealing with the conflicts and fighting that took place between the JEM and the Sudan Liberation Arm (SLA) in El-Muhajiria and Giraida as if it was an internal fighting within a specific tribe, this manifested in the restricted briefing about the incident and the attempt to address it. The details were withheld from other members as if the matter does not concern them. Most of those people only learned about the fighting between the two movements from external sources.

The Short-coming of the Eastern Front:
1- When the mobilisation in the Eastern Front started, there was an unprecedented response from members of many tribes in Sudan, especially Darfur. That was truly simultaneous response from the marginalised people in the country. However, the Eastern Front leadership have quickly stopped that collective influx, using the excuse of lack of resources - at the same time it was hiring planes to fly members of the clan in order to make them dominant. The leaders exceeded this to an attempt to get rid of the leaders from other tribes using all sorts of justifications, fabrications and instigations against them and their accusation with treason.
2- The Eastern Front would have been cable of becoming a model and embodiment to what the JEM calls for in the form of a national programme of justice, equality and the participation of all. However, the reality in the Eastern Front today is tarnished by many mistakes, absence of institutionalism, the authoritarianism of individuals and the monopoly of decision making. This has created a lack of confidence, and led to more marginalisation and selective and tribal exclusions, and resulted in the reproduction of the very crisis that we revolted against. The mistakes can be summarised as follows:
a. The absence of real institutions in the Eastern Front in accordance with the statue of the Movement.
b. Some individuals assume the role of the institutions and claim referentialness for every thing.
c. Because of the security mentality through which these individuals carryout the work and the absolute power given to them, presenting another point of view or alternative opinion became rejected and were equated with instigation and the persons associated with this were accused of treason.
d. The fabrication of evidence starts by the interrogator of individuals and setting them against each other so that they say about each other what the interrogator wants (divide and rule). These interrogations were video-taped and taken as evidence to convict the persons who holds a different point of view.
e. The authoritarianism and control by the Eastern Front leadership and its torture and imprisonment of some leaders and members and the disappearance of some in suspicious circumstances led to complains, disquiet and a continuing desertion and fraction of the most important component (the Beja People) who joined the Beja Congress while other groups joined the SLA.
f. Despite the multiplicity of the elements in the area, large sections of the people in the area from other tribes were steered away from position of leadership despite the fact that they have professional competence, experience and education. Dominance was focused in accordance with the view of the tribe.

Important Concepts and Facts:

The JEM was established with a cultural, political and social vision to awaken the marginalised majority in all the regions of the Sudan. However, with the progress of the revolutionary work, a section of one tribe/clan tried to monopolise all the key aspects of the movement such as senior positions, weapons and financial resources. This was despite the repeated advice and guidance provided regarding the importance of forming a balanced arm forces.

The leadership refuse to allow the true participation of their brothers and sisters from the same region and the other regions in Sudan. Hence, the relationship between those belonging to this clan and the rest of the members including those from the other clans within the same tribe is practically that of the rulers and the ruled. This reality continues until this day and the relationship worsened by their continuous monopoly of the revolution to the extend that made them a social and political class that rejects by all means the closeness of other marginalised people to the key positions in the Movement. This strange relationship created bad psychological feelings among the majority of the members and was reflected in the continuous fractions and resignations and the feeling of fear that a new colonialism is advancing.

The members of the Movement think that the prevailing feelings among the majority of them, which was ignored by the leadership, is the main reason behind the deterioration of the Movement and the loss of its members in Darfur and the other regions in Sudan. The political oppression that was shamelessness imposed on members put the majority of the Movement members in a blatant confrontation with their own people and supporters. Many ask surprisingly; how can we accept marginalisation, subordination and the unjust distribution and at the same time that we claim to fight the marginalisation from the centre.

We have realised for some time that there is a gradual imbalance in the structure of the Movement. However, our belief in the collective slogans that we have raised and our hopes that the verbal raising of these issues, in addition to our care for the benefits of our people and our concern that others might exploit the situation we have to extended our patience and perseverance hoping that this element would repent and return to wisdom. These hopes have faded and time has proven that the slogans were exploited, and the some leaders do not believe in equality within the Movement. Unfortunately, this is what practical experience has shown and proven by the bad results that threaten the spilt of the Movement. These are bitter facts, but they must be stated frankly and openly discussed. These facts can not be overlooked by any one seeking genuine solutions to the problems of the Movement and trying to build a movement that rid us all of marginalisation.

The unity of the Movement is now in unprecedented and great danger. We are facing a situation whereby the Movement is facing the danger of splitting into several factions as a result of the growing awareness of the majority of its members about their legitimate rights in duties and obligations and the effective participation in decision making. This contradiction reflected in growing awareness among the majority of the members of the Movement about their confiscated rights, on the one hand, and the monopoly of a group for the revolution and its attempt to continue and force the other members to obey it by dominating weapon and financial resources, on the other hand, made the Movement contradicts it objectives and slogans of justice and equality.

The time whereby the marginalised masses can be exploited for the purposes of a tribe using whatever name or slogans has gone forever and will not return after the masks were removed from faces and the truth became apparent.

The majority of the Movement membership were delighted when the Movement declared its national orientation and that its reliance on the regions in representation. These were then assured in the Movement’s statue. However, the leadership retreated from the application of all of these when it realised that they mean the equitable distribution of financial resources, arms and power among the Movement’s members. Various means were deployed to achieve this, including withholding financial resources from some organs of the Movement. The dominant group kept all of the financial resources and left only weak financial resources for the other members and bodies. As these sources were so minimal and can not meet even the most basics political activities, the Movement has diminished and collapsed in the other regions.

The central problem of the Movement is the monopoly of finances, weapons and power by minority from a clan of a tribe and the marginalisation of the majority of the Movement’s members and the reason behind the many fractions and resignations. It is also the cause for the military deterioration, the political conflict and the reduction in the Movement’s membership. These tragedies can not be ended without the attainment of justice and equality between the members of the Movement.

The Movement has made great sacrifices in its call for equality and justice in our country and in its struggle to reclaim the rights of the marginalised people. This great heritage must be continued and advanced. The contradiction, however, is that our great Movement which is struggling for justice, equality and democracy as a system to govern the whole of Sudan, has became using injustice and undemocratic ways in its internal affairs. The Sudanese people will not entrust the rights of the marginalised people in a movement whose internal affairs contradicts its slogans and principles.

What the Movement has withheld from its own members, it can not provide for the general society; this is against the nature of things. This contradiction must be removed. This can be achieved by bringing the Movement to the values of justice and equality and this for us entails that the contents of this Memo should be taken with the necessary concerns and keenness.

Despite our praise for the Movement President and all the leaders around him in the beginning of the Movement’s work, we think that the Movement has since swerved greatly from its direction and its objectives. Yet we still hope that our advice will be heard before it’s too late. Revolutionary work must have reflection assessment and correction so that we can reach our objectives.

We commend the sacrifices made by the tribes of Darfur as a price for justice, equality and freedom in the form of lives, wealth and dislocation of women and children. We also praise the role played by the Zaghawa tribe, together with other tribes in Darfur which sacrificed largely. This Memo and its contents are not meant to be directed against any tribe, but to all persons or group that want to exploit the sacrifices and the efforts of any tribe for the achievement of personal or secretive and narrow gains. We stress that the tribes of the marginalized areas have made high sacrifices not in order to allow a clan of a tribe to dominate the whole tribe or one tribe over the whole region or one region over the whole country. Those sacrifices were made so that justice and equality prevail across the country. We assert that with justice and equality we will be victorious, and that the injustice and deceit, however wrapped in the cloths of tribe, religion or region will not last. If we fail, together with our people we will pay the price. We therefore, ask the leadership to fully observe what we have been asking others to respect; that is justice and equality.

A movement that seeks advancement must present its objectives in specific and practical manner in matters that concerns it at this historical juncture, and must provide real solutions to real problems using realistic means.

The role of leadership in the society that we seek to establish is a one that completely subjected to the will of the society and that often respects what society accepts or chooses. The leadership must also understand our regional, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. Many revolutionary movements start with attractive slogans, and promise higher values that mobilise the public to pay their lives as a price. However, if the institutions and the aware leadership that overcome the limitation of its narrow affiliations is absent, then the revolution will become tribal, secretive institution and we must learn lessons from other revolutionary movements.

Examples of the Problems Facing the Movement:

1- The failure of the Movement leader to hold the regular meetings of the Movement’s Executive Leadership; the secretaries had not met since their formation.
2- The failure of the Movement leader to complete the leadership structures of the Movement, especially the deputies of the President and the rest of the secretaries.
3- The failure of the legislation to complete its membership and its failure to hold any meeting since its formation.
4- The Movement has failed to prove it representation of the people of Darfur; any leader who does not belong to the tribe of the President is marginalized and is not given the chance to participate in fundamental matters.
5- The failure of the Movement to establish political and military mechanisms amongst the marginalised people of the rest of the regions of Sudan. For example, there is no any senior leader from the southern or northern regions, and there is symbolic presence of leaders from Kordufan, the Eastern Region and the Central Region. This is in spite of the presence of supporters for the Movement in these regions.
6- The current bodies have failed to carryout their duties and there are a number of key positions that remain vacant, such as the deputies of the President and the Movement and the Movement Representatives in the regions.
7- Some leaders with great abilities have been downsized and marginalised, either by placing them in unsuitable position or by withholding finances from them, or by undermining them and working instead with their deputies.
8- The monopoly of the President of the Movement and his clan for almost all key positions to the extent that other leaders become just a decoration.
9- As a result of the absence of clear demarcation between the revolutionary struggle and the tribal affiliation, some relatives of the leader participate in meetings and executive activities without holding formal positions. As the leaders surrounds himself very closely with his clan, these members influence in all his decisions and activities.
10- The Revolutionary Alliance of West Sudan which has been formed recently is an ambiguous body which has been formed without consideration or consultation to the institutions of the Movement, and it can not be justified by as strategic or tactical. The only justification may be the expansion of the dominant tribe. The Chadian regime has practised all forms of violations against the Movement since its formation and this regime, similar to the Sudanese regime, is backward and enclave in the tribe and practices marginalisation against its citizens similar justifications to those that led us to carry arms have led the rebels in Chad to carry arms, so can it be rational for us as a revolutionary Movement to be a defence line for this tribal regime. We state this, despite the fact that the intervention of the Sudanese regime in Chad in order to complicate the situation is known to all.
11- The neglect of the families of the comrades: the Movement has failed to support the families of its heroes who sacrifice their lives for the sake of the problems of Sudan and Darfur, and those who subjected to imprisonment and superficial courts. The only help those people got was from charitable individual members of the Movement during occasions. Those families are suffering and the Movement and its leadership are the ones responsible for offering them assistance.
12- The dominance of the security mentality in the Movement: the Movement tends to adopt a security understanding to many internal problems and it adopts a military approach to address these problems. By doing so, the Movement has adopted the very denial strategy of the Sudanese regime and its overlooking of the root causes of the crisis. Expressing an alternative point of view or self-criticism has now become one of the major sins in the Movement. The failure in the Eastern Front as a result of the arrogance of the leadership and the marginalisation of the people of Eastern Sudan. Many members of other tribes have also suffered from the fabrication of accusations which were then unquestionably accepted by the President who did not bother to check these with the relevant people leave alone to set an independent investigation committee. The fact that the President is surrounded by people from his own tribe who fabricated evidence and make accusations on security grounds is bound to affect his ability to be just. This dominant approach in the Eastern Front will lead to withdraw of confidence from the President.

The Demands of the Corrective Memo:
The Movement started strong in its approach and argument, but has deteriorated greatly for the reasons mentioned above. We have therefore, thought it is necessary to illustrate these facts as an attempt to restructure and become transparent in order to avoid fraction and defeat from within. We request the following from the President of the Movement:

1- The formation of a Leadership Council and called the National Revolutionary Leadership Council (NRLC) consisting of the President, the Deputies of the President for the Seven Regions, the General Secretary and the General Commander of the Movement Army. This Board should be charged with making all the strategic and sovereign decision which should not be left for the President to make on his own. In addition to ensure collectivity and representativeness in the work of the Movement.
2- The previous system has failed because the President had direct responsibilities over many secretaries in addition to the military sectors and other sectors. As a result there were no any meetings, plans for work or reports on performance and budgets. We therefore request the re-structuring of the Movement by adding the position of General Secretary and General Commander on the second level, just below the President and at the same level as the seven Deputies of the President who are at the same time the Chairmen of the Movement in the regions. This is essential for ensuring that all the secretaries and military sectors performed their duties in an adequate manner and that the Movement structure follows the same style at regional, state and local levels.
3- Reviewing the structure of the present executive team which is dominated by one ethnic group.
4- The membership of the Legislative Council should be completed and should meet to undertake its duties.
5- The Leadership Council should oversee the establishment of a Defence Committee from members from all regions and localities. This Committee should oversee the establishment of a national army and should become the security committee in Abuja Peace Talks.
6- The spreading of the Movement power horizontally by giving more powers to regional, sectoral and specialised departments. These organs should be assisted to be self-financing.
7- Intellectual abilities and practical contributions should be the main criterion for promotion to positions of leadership. The intellectual laziness and the tribal mentality should be rooted out.
8- Diversity should be observed in the selection of the National Revolutionary Leadership Council and in the distribution of positions in general. This is essential to ensure that power is not concentrated in a particular ethnic group.
9- The National Revolutionary Leadership Council should establish a Finance Directorate which is completely transparent in terms of the sources of fund and the way in which it is spent.
10- The formation of a Commission for Unity and Diversity run by individuals who are known for their honesty, competence and sensitivity towards issues of unity and diversity. The Commission should monitor and report regularly to the National Revolutionary Leadership Council about the degree to which the Movement is truly national and is achieving unity and diversity.
11- Restructuring the current negotiating committee and its three sub-committees, observing social diversity in their formation and not allowing any one ethnic or social group to dominate them.
12- The selection of a new leader for the negotiation. The leader must be competent and with leadership qualities in order to avoid the grave mistakes that accompanied the progress of the negotiation.
13- The dismissal of the Commander of the Eastern Front and the formation of a new leadership led by a member from the Eastern Region.
14- The formation of a neutral investigation committee from the members of the Legislative Council, the Justice and Human Rights Secretary and the Intelligence Secretary to investigate the incidents in the Eastern Region and all the human rights abuses and report to the NRLC and the Legislative Council.
15- The secretaries should choose their own deputies without intervention by the President of the Movement.
16- Re-structuring the Cease Fire Committee which is made of 28 members of which 24 of them are from one tribe. The new committee must be truly representative.
17- The formation of a committee to address the fractions and divisions, as many faithful members are lost because they called for reforms. The dismissal and freezing of membership without consulting the relevant institutions of the Movement and in a way that reflect favouritism and harshness, such as what happened to Mohamed Salih Harba and his group, must be stopped. As the same mistake made by this group was previously made by one of the leader who has not been held responsible in the same manner. Similarly what has happened to the members from the Eastern Region and the psychological pressure and accusations that imposed on those who resigned (e.g. Mr. Ibrahim El-Sidig, Mrs. Amani Bashir, and Mr. Ismail Ahmed Rahma. Mr. Mohamed Abdalla, Mrs. Rawdah Mohamed Ahmed Nimeiri) this is important for unifying the Movement.
18- Strengthening the relationship with all the factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and encourage them to unite instead of igniting and work for the coordination and even the completely unity between the two movements in presenting the problem in the negotiating tables and leaving the issues of difference for the people of Darfur to choose when they regains their freedom and the right to choose freely.
19- With regard to the relationship between state, religion and identity; we want to affirm that as a Movement we openly call for a civilian state that respects the religious, ethnic, cultural and regional diversities in Sudan. The leadership must abide by this approach so as to rid the Movement of the polarisation between the right that despite other cultures and religions, attempts to impose its ideology on the whole country and the left that disrespects the religions and cultures of the Sudanese nations.
20- We request the President of the Movement to respond to this Memo, which is raised by the base of the Movement, within a period of no more that two weeks.



The Memo is signed by the following:
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The contents of this Memo and the views expressed in it reflect not only the opinion of the signatories but also articulate the views and vision of many other members who are experiencing oppression and authoritarianism and were hence unable to openly put their names in this Memo.