Darfur rebel SLM threatens to suspend Sudan peace talks

CAIRO, June 22 (AFP) — A main rebel group in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan threatened Wednesday to suspend African Union-mediated peace negotiations in the Nigeria capital Abuja.

A young Sudanese refugee walks through the Abu Shouk refugee camp near El Fasher in Darfur, Sudan, in August 2004 carrying a bag of grain on her head.(AFP).

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) accused the government of attacking its forces in eastern Darfur and charged that it was preparing another offensive against SLM positions in the region.

The SLM “officially warns the government against committing another crime,” the group said in a statement.

It added that if the government “tries to carry out its plans,” the SLM will “demand that the negotiations be suspended until the government abides by its international pledges and (UN) Security Council resolutions.”

The SLM threat came as AU mediators battled to get the parties to the Darfur conflict to start direct talks in spite of a longstanding dispute over the presence of Chad and the cancellation of a planned plenary session.

The parties still have to agree on the Declaration of Principle (DoP), which will set the tone for the discussions. The SLM said it had proposed that the DoP recognize the right of self-determination for the people of Darfur.

Fighting has raged in Darfur since February 2003, when local groups launched a rebellion in the name of the region’s black African tribes, alleging marginalisation by Khartoum’s Arab-dominated government.

Since the war began, between 180,000 and 300,000 people are thought to have been killed and 2.4 million displaced from their homes. Some 200,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad.