Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or (Arabic: حركة تحرير السودان, Ḥarakat Taḥrīr Al-Sūdān) (abbreviated as either SLM or SLA) is a Sudanese rebel group. It was founded as the Darfur Liberation Front by members of three indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur, the Fur, the Zaghawa and the Masalit among whom were the leaders Abdul Wahid al Nur of the Fur and Minni Minnawi of the Zaghawa.

Formation
General Omar al-Tsim, and the National Islamic Front headed by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, overthrew the Sudanese government led by Ahmed al-Mirghani in 1989. A large section of the population in Darfur, particularly the non-Arab ethnicities in the region, became increasingly marginalized. These feelings were crystallized by the publication in 2000 of The Black Book, that detailed the structural inequity in the Sudan, which denies non-Arabs equal justice and power sharing. In 2002 Abdul Wahid al Nur, a lawyer, Ahmad Abdel Shafi Bassey, an education student, and a third man founded the Darfur Liberation Front which subsequently evolved into the Sudan Liberation Movement, and claimed to represented all of the oppressed in the Sudan.

Main factions
In 2006, the Sudan Liberation Movement split into two main factions, divided on the issue of the Darfur Peace Agreement:


 * Sudan Liberation Movement (Minnawi) - this group is led by Minni Minnawi and signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006. Minnawi served as the Chairperson of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority from its formation in 2007 to his dismissal in December 2010. The SLM-Minnawi faction formally withdrew from the peace agreement in February 2011.
 * Sudan Liberation Movement (al-Nur) - this group was formed in 2006 and is led by Abdul Wahid al Nur. It has rejected the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Other smaller splinter groups

 * Sudan Liberation Movement (Historic Leadership) - this group split from the al-Nur faction and is led by Osman Ibrahim Musa. It signed a peace agreement with the government of South Darfur in January 2011.


 * Sudan Liberation Movement (General Command) - formed in November 2010 by former members of the SLM factions and the former members of the Justice and Equality Movement. It is led by Adam Ali Shogar.


 * Sudan Liberation Movement (Mainstream) - this group is led by Mohamed Al Zubeir Khamis.