Justice and Equality Movement
Encyclopedia
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict
War in Darfur
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...

 of 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...

, led by Khalil Ibrahim
Khalil Ibrahim
Dr. Khalil Ibrahim is the leader of the Zaghawa-dominated Darfurian rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement . -History:Ibrahim is from the Koba branch of the Zaghawa ethnic group, which is located mainly in Sudan, with a minority on the Chad side of the border...

. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement
Sudan Liberation Movement
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or is a Sudanese rebel group...

 (SLM), they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed. The JEM is also a member of the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (Sudan)
The Eastern Front is a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan along the border with Eritrea, particularly the states of Red Sea and Kassala. The Eastern Front's Chairman is Musa Mohamed Ahmed...

, a rebel coalition formerly active in the east of Sudan along the 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...

n border. After the Eastern Front signed a peace deal with the central government, the JEM lost access to its funding from Eritrea.

The beginnings of the Justice and Equality Movement trace to the writers of 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...

, a manuscript published in 2000 that details the structural inequality in the country; the JEM leader, Khalil Ibrahim, was one of the authors. The JEM embraces an Islamist ideology, and although the Sudanese government links the group directly to 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...

, leaders of the group and al-Turabi himself deny that claim. al-Turabi blames the government for "aggravating the situation", and many of the followers of al-Turabi joined the JEM.

On January 20, 2006, the Justice and Equality Movement declared a merger with the Sudan Liberation Movement
Sudan Liberation Movement
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or is a Sudanese rebel group...

, along with other rebel groups, to form the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West Sudan
Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West Sudan
The Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West Sudan was formed on January 20, 2006, when the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement merged to form a single rebel alliance in the Sudanese region of Darfur....

; however, the JEM and SLM negotiated as separate groups with peace talks with the government in May 2006.

In October 2007, the JEM attacked the Defra oilfield in the Kordofan region of Sudan. The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company is a petroleum exploration and production company operating in Sudan. It was incorporated on 18 June 1997 and undertook construction of the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline which links Sudan's inland oil fields with refineries at Khartoum and Port Sudan.The...

, a Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

-led consortium, controls the field. The next month, a group of 135 Chinese engineers arrived in Darfur to work on the Defra field. Ibrahim told reporters, "We oppose them coming because the Chinese are not interested in human rights. It is just interested in Sudan's resources." The JEM claims that the revenue from oil sold to China funds the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militia
Janjaweed
The Janjaweed is a blanket term used to describe mostly gunmen in Darfur, western Sudan, and now eastern Chad...

.

On the morning of December 11, 2007, Khalil Ibrahim claimed that JEM forces fought and defeated Sudanese government troops guarding a Chinese-run oilfield in the Kordofan region. 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"...

 officials, however, denied that any oil fields had come under attack. Ibrahim said that the attack was part of a JEM campaign to rid Sudan of Chinese-run oilfields and stated that "[The JEM] want all Chinese companies to leave. They have been warned many times. They should not be there."

On May 11, 2008, JEM attacked
2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum
The 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum was a May 2008 raid by the Justice and Equality Movement , a Darfuri ethnic minority rebel group, against the Sudanese government in the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum....

 the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The government declared victory, saying that the attack had been repelled and leading members of the group had been killed, although the JEM said that the attack was successful. Eltahir Elfaki, the General Secretary of JEM's legislative council, vowed that the war would henceforth be fought across the country, saying that "We haven't changed our tactics. From the beginning, Jem is a national movement and it has a national agenda." Khalil Ibrahim declared that "This is just the start of a process and the end is the termination of this regime".

In April 2009, JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim told Aljazeera English in an exclusive interview recorded at his rebel base camp on the Chad-Sudan border that JEM would seek the independence of Darfur if South Sudan became independent.

JEM signed a truce with Sudan's government in February 2010.

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