Minni Minnawi | |
Nationality: | Sudanese |
Office1: | Regional Governor of Darfur |
President1: | Abdel Fattah al-Burhan |
Primeminister1: | Abdalla Hamdok |
Predecessor1: | office created |
Successor1: | Incumbent |
Office2: | Chairperson of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority |
Term Start2: | 23 April 2007 |
Term End2: | 6 December 2010 |
Predecessor2: | office created |
Successor2: | Shartai Jaafar Abdel Hakam |
Birth Date: | 1968 12, mf=yes |
Birth Place: | Furawiyya, North Darfur, Sudan[1] |
Party: | Sudan Liberation Movement |
Suliman Arcua Minnawi (Arabic: سليمان أركو مناوي; born 12 December 1968), also known as "Minni Minnawi" (Arabic: مني مناوي), is a Sudanese politician the leader of a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army. A former educator, Minnawi served as secretary to Sudan Liberation Army leader Abdul Wahid al-Nur before the organisation split in 2004.
Minnawi signed a treaty, known as the Darfur Peace Agreement, with the Khartoum government in May 2006. Nevertheless, in July 2006, fighting broke out around the North Darfur town of Korma, resulting in the deaths of at least 80 people.[2] In the same year, Minnawi was appointed the top Sudanese official in the Darfur region, as chairman of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority, and was technically the fourth ranking member of the Presidency, as Senior Assistant to the President of the Republic.
On September 14, 2006, in defiance of the central government's opposition, Minnawi supported the new UN peacekeeping force detailed in UNSC Resolution 1706, which was designed to protect the Sudanese people.[3] Minnawi opposed the Sudan government's genocidal agenda, which was exercised by Omar al-Bashir against the Zaghawa people and other civilians, alleged crimes for which Bashir was later indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).[4]
In December 2010, after repeated complaints of non-compliance by the National Congress Party with the peace accords, the Sudan Liberation Movement under Minnawi withdrew from the Darfur Peace Agreement.[5] Minnawi resigned as Senior Assistant to the President of Sudan and as Chairperson of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority,[6] to ally his faction, SLM/MM, with the other resistance defense forces in Darfur, including Abdul Wahid's faction the SLM/AW, in resisting attacks by the Sudanese Armed Forces, and its militias, on citizens in rebel-held areas. In 2011, SLM/MM joined the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) opposed to the Khartoum Government.[7]
In May 2021, Minni Minnawi was appointed governor of the Darfur Regional Government after signing the Juba Peace Agreement the previous year. He was inaugurated on 10 August.[8]