Sudan says will not refuse talks with Darfur rebels

KHARTOUM, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Sudan will not refuse to negotiate with a Darfur rebel group it has accused of involvement in a failed coup attempt in the capital, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said on Wednesday.

African Union-sponsored talks to end a rebellion in Sudan’s remote west that has cause more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes, collapsed last month and are due to reconvene on Oct. 21.

But Khartoum has accused one of the two rebel groups that took up arms early last year, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), of involvement in a failed coup attempt in the capital almost two weeks ago and had raised questions over whether it would continue to talk with them.

But Ismail told reporters in Khartoum it was not for the government to decide who to negotiate with.

“The position of the government is that the AU is the body which decides whether a group has got the legitimacy to participate in the negotiations or not,” Ismail said. “The government will not put a veto on the decision of the AU.”

The second rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Amy, has said they would attend negotiations with the government in the Nigerian captial Abuja regardless of whether JEM was present or not.

Two rebel groups accuse Khartoum of neglect and of arming mounted Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge and calls the Janjaweed outlaws.

The United States calls the violence genocide and blames Khartoum and the Janjaweed. The United Nations says the conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The U.N. Security Council has urged Khartoum to find a swift political solution to end the troubles.