Khalil Ibrahim

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For other people named Khalil Ibrahim or Ibrahim Khalil, see Khalil Ibrahim (disambiguation).

Khalil Ibrahim
خليل إبراهيم
Blue Nile State Minister for Social Affairs
In office
1997–1998
Darfur State Minister for Education
In office
1991–1994
Personal details
Born1957
Popular Congress

(1999–2000)
Sudanese Government

(1992)
Justice and Equality Movement
(2000–2011)
Years of service1992, 2000–2011
Battles/warsSecond Sudanese Civil War
War in Darfur

Khalil Ibrahim (

Arabic: خليل إبراهيم; 1957 – 22 or 24 December 2011) was a Sudanese insurgent leader who was the founder of the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) which he led until his death. In the 1990s Ibrahim served in several state governments of Sudan.

Early life

Ibrahim was born in Sudan in 1957.[1] Ibrahim was from the Koba branch of the Zaghawa ethnic group,[1] 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.[1]

Political career

Ibrahim served as the state minister for education in Darfur between 1991 and 1994 in

Blue Nile in 1997 before a post as adviser 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."[2]

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

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 Seekers of Truth and Justice" published the Black Book in 2000, claiming Riverine Arabs [clarification needed
] dominated political power and resources.

In 2001, Ibrahim 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, limited to the Kobe Zaghawa, including many kinsmen from across the Chadian border.[3]

Darfur conflict

On 5 March 2002, Ibrahim claimed credit for initiating a government revolt. This apparent claim of the landmark attack on

Darfur conflict.[citation needed
]

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, 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

Libyan civil war compelled him to flee across the Sahara and return to Darfur. The Sudanese 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 never responded, neither being proved.[4][5]

Death

Ibrahim died either on 22 December 2011 after an air strike by the Sudanese armed forces[6] or on 24 December 2011, two days after being injured in fighting in North Kordofan, west of Wad Banda.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Law, Eric (27 December 2011). "Dr Khalil Ibrahim: Leader of the Darfur rebels in Sudan". The Independent. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  2. ISBN 1-84277-697-5
    , p. 91
  3. ^ Al-Jazeera English YouTube, Sudan opposition arm group fights to forge a new reformed and just country for all Sudanese on the basis of citizenship, 15 April 2009
  4. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: JEM Leader says he has arrived in Darfur". Sudan Tribune. 11 September 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  5. ^ "Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim flees Libya". BBC News. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  6. ^ "Sudan Darfur rebel Khalil Ibrahim 'killed by army'". BBC News. 25 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
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