The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) (Arabic: حركة العدل والمساواة, Ḥarakat al-ʿAdl wal-musāwāh ) 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 (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, a rebel coalition formerly active in the east of Sudan along the Eritrean 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, 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, 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, along with other rebel groups, to form the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West Sudan; 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, a Chinese-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.
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 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 " want all Chinese companies to leave. They have been warned many times. They should not be there."
On May 11, 2008, JEM attacked 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. On December 25, 2011 the Sudanese People's Armed Forces announced it had killed Ibrahim near Wad Banda in North Kordofan. His brother Gibril Ibrahim was chosen to replace him on 26 January 2012.
The group was accused by the Sudanese government of supporting the South Sudanese forces during the 2012 South Sudan-Sudan border conflict.
Famous quotes containing the words justice, equality and/or movement:
“Justice has its anger, my lord Bishop, and the wrath of justice is an element of progress. Whatever else may be said of it, the French Revolution was the greatest step forward by mankind since the coming of Christ. It was unfinished, I agree, but still it was sublime. It released the untapped springs of society; it softened hearts, appeased, tranquilized, enlightened, and set flowing through the world the tides of civilization. It was good. The French Revolution was the anointing of humanity.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death M even death on a cross.”
—Bible: New Testament, Philippians 2:5-8.
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—Betty Friedan (20th century)