Sudanese rebels agree to take part in peace talks in Abuja

ABUJA, Aug 25, 2004 (dpa) — Rebel groups agreed Wednesday to participate in peace talks with the Sudanese government being held in the Nigerian capital of Abuja after coming under pressure to disarm and accept confinement to camps in the country’s troubled Darfur Province.

The two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), had held up the talks by rejecting the stipulation that their forces be disarmed and guarded by forces of the African Union attempting to enforce a cease fire.

After consultations with Nigerian government officials and AU delegates, the rebels agreed to participate in the talks, which are taking place under the auspices of the AU.

“We earlier had reservations about the agenda, but for the sake of the talks, we have decided to drop our reservations for now, until we get to that item,” JEM spokesman Ahmed Togodt said.

But he described confining the rebel forces as “nonsense”.

“We are fighters. There is nothing called disarmament for freedom fighters,” he said.

Sudanese government spokesman Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim commended the rebels for their change of stance, but he restated Sudan’s rejection of the deployment of any foreign troops, including those of the AU, in the region.

African Union chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who convened the meeting, criticised Ibrahim for “playing to the gallery”, noting that the Sudanese government had asked the AU to deploy troops to disarm the rebels in Darfur.

“We need to act quickly. Let us bear in mind the suffering of refugees and displaced persons, dislocations caused by attacks and counterattacks by militia groups,” Obasanjo said at the opening of the talks.

Later Obasanjo said the talks had made some progress and expressed confidence in a resolution of the crisis. He warned of a “disaster” if the international community decided to intervene.

The United Nations is to review progress made by the Sudanese government in disarming the Janjaweed on Monday.

Earlier the head of the Sudanese government delegation, Majzoub al-Khalifa, said Khartoum might accept the presence of AU peacekeepers if they disarmed the rebels as well as the government- backed Janjaweed militia.

But SLA Chairman Abdulwaheed Mohammed al-Nur told Deutsche Presse- Agentur, dpa: “We’re not asking for a complete redrawing of the agenda, but if progress must be made, the containment of our troops should be completely left out of the discussions.”

Wednesday’s session received a report on the humanitarian situation in Darfur from the U.N. representative Mohammed Sahnoun.

“Sahnoun said correctly that the situation in the region is by all means miserable and that more action needs to be taken to improve the situation,” Togodt said.

Togodt condemned what he termed “the tactics of the Sudan government of denying access to humanitarian organizations into the Darfur region and hiding the catastrophic situation in the area”.

About 150 Rwandan troops, part of the 300-strong AU force to protect cease fire monitors, have been deployed in Darfur. Another 150 troops from Nigeria are scheduled to join the AU force Thursday.

The Nigerian parliament has approved the deployment of as many as 1,500 troops to Darfur, if necessary. The AU has proposed sending a 2,000-strong force to Darfur, with a mandate to disarm the Janjaweed and protect civilians.

The talks got off to a slow start, with the parties to the negotiations spending nearly two days agreeing on an agenda.

Previous talks between Khartoum and the rebels collapsed in July after the rebels walked out.

The 18-month conflict in Darfur started when the SLA and the JEM rebelled against the government, saying they were not being given a fair share of the country’s resources.

The government then allegedly unleashed the Arab Janjaweed militia, arming them and giving them air support. The militias have since raped and killed thousands of civilians in Darfur, according to reports by aid and human rights organizations.

The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International Wednesday accused Sudan of seeking to gag those speaking out against human rights abuses in Darfur.

“Instead of arresting those who commit human rights violations, the Sudanese authorities are arresting those who are exposing the perpetrators,” Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Khan said.