Rebels cast doubt on UN hope of Darfur peace talks
By Opheera McDoom
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) – A rebel leader from Sudan’s troubled Darfur region said on Saturday his group would not talk to the government until it disarmed Arab militias, casting doubts on U.N. hopes of fresh peace talks.
Sudan said it was improving security and aid in the western region, as European countries joined Washington in heaping pressure on Khartoum to end a conflict that threatens millions of lives and has been labelled genocide by the U.S. Congress.
Britain’s top military commander said his country could muster 5,000 troops to intervene in Darfur and a senior European Union official urged Sudan to disarm Arab militias accused of killing, raping and looting in black African villages.
Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), put the spotlight on the difficulties the international community faces in trying to end what the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“JEM will not have any direct contact with the government and will not start any political negotiations … until the government meets preconditions which are the terms of the ceasefire signed … on April 8,” Ibrahim said from Eritrea.
ACCUSATIONS FLY
The JEM has set disarmament of the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, as a key precondition. The rebels and Khartoum have accused each other of truce violations.
The JEM and the other main Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), launched a revolt against Khartoum last year, charging the government with arming the Janjaweed.
The United Nations had said on Friday the JEM and SLM agreed at a Geneva meeting with special U.N. adviser Mohamed Sahnoun to participate in “substantive political negotiations” on Darfur.
Peace talks hosted by the African Union were suspended last week when rebels walked out after Khartoum rejected some of their preconditions.
The U.N. estimates at least 30,000 people have been killed in the crisis and that some 1.5 million have been made homeless.
International concern has been raised by television pictures showing refugee camps in neighbouring Chad full of thin women and children living on meagre rations with little more than a few sticks for shelter.
While a U.S.-drafted resolution seeking to threaten oil-producing Sudan with sanctions remains stalled in the U.N. Security Council by China and Russia, European countries stepped up a drive to resolve the Darfur crisis.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country is Sudan’s largest cash donor, has not ruled out military intervention.
BRITAIN SAYS TROOPS AVAILABLE
“If need be, we will be able to go to Sudan. I suspect we could put a brigade together very quickly indeed,” Britain’s Chief of General Staff, General Mike Jackson, told the BBC, signalling some 5,000 troops were available.
In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail at a meeting late on Friday that Khartoum must disarm the Janjaweed.
“(Solana) urged the government to arrest the leaders of the Janjaweed as a first significant step towards the dismantling of these militias, which are held accountable for most of the human rights violations,” said Solana’s spokeswoman.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier is due to begin a three-day African trip on Monday with a visit to el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state.
Sudan, which has warned Britain and the United States not to interfere in its internal affairs, said all arms of government had been working to resolve the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur.
“On the security side, 5,000 police have been mobilised across the three states of Darfur and all of the police stations that were attacked by rebel groups have been reopened,” the Information Ministry said in a statement.
“By last week, 90,000 internally displaced people out of the 212,000 displaced due to tribal fighting have returned to their villages of origin.”
Khartoum’s figure of 212,000 for the number of displaced differs with the U.N.’s estimated 1.5 million.
The Darfur conflict has grown while Khartoum trudges toward peace with rebels in southern Sudan to end Africa’s longest civil war.
An accord between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army on power-sharing and disputed strategic areas of Africa’s largest country was agreed in May.