W. Sudan rebels say unlikely to go to peace talks, want Eritrean mediation
By Nima Elbagir
AL-FASHIR, Sudan, April 15 (Reuters) – Rebels from Sudan’s western Darfur region said on Thursday they are unlikely to attend peace talks to end fighting described as ethnic cleansing, accusing Khartoum of violating a four-day-old truce.
Two rebel groups launched a revolt in remote Darfur last year, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the poor area and arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages, a charge the government denies.
The foes signed a 45-day humanitarian ceasefire agreement that came into force on Sunday to allow urgent aid to reach the more than 700,000 people the United Nations says the fighting has displaced. At least 110,000 refugees have fled into Chad.
The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) said it would not attend the political talks due to reconvene on April 24 in Chad, adding it wanted Eritrea to mediate instead of President Idriss Debby. Sudan has poor relations with Eritrea.
“We are definitely not going to the political talks because the government is not serious and is using the Janjaweed (Arab militias) to continue its strategy of murdering and displacing innocents,” SLM/A spokesman Musa Hamid al-Doa said.
“We are suggesting Eritrea as the mediator,” he said. The SLM have accused the government of violating the ceasefire.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said they would not accept Chad as mediators for the talks and expressed doubt they would attend the April 24 meeting.
“I don’t think we are going to Chad. The Chadian President should not chair any meeting nor any of his executives,” JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim told Reuters from Paris, saying he had been denied an entry visa to attend the recent talks.
TRUCE VIOLATION
Ibrahim also echoed the SLM’s claim that government-backed Janjaweed had continued attacks, despite the humanitarian truce.
A western aid official in al-Fashir, the capital of Northern Darfur state, said it was still not secure enough to get aid to those in need, but there was sense of a change in policy.
“There is a sense that there is a changing attitude to the Janjaweed from the military,” the official said, citing a report that a soldier had shot and killed a Janjaweed last week.
The SLM/A said it was restarting military action against the Janjaweed but JEM said it would respect the humanitarian ceasefire, calling for an international armed force in Darfur to enforce the truce.
“If the government continues these attacks then either the international community bring in an international army or we will break the ceasefire,” Ibrahim said.
He said monitors from the African Union, to be deployed shortly, were ineffective as they had no military mandate.
(Additional Reporting by Opheera Mcdoom in Cairo)