Darfur rebel JEM threatens to take war to Khartoum

PARIS, France, Oct 30, 2004 (PANA) — Khalil Ibrahim, Secretary General of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the two main rebel
groups in Sudan’s southern region Darfur, warned Friday that
his group would take the war to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, unless its demand for self-determination was met by government.

“If the government does not meet our demands, we will take the
war to Khartoum. It’s neither going to be an underground war
nor terrorism, but real war,” Ibrahim told a news conference
in the French capital Paris.

He boasted that his movement had enough fighters for the war,
adding that some 12,000 fighters were at Sudan’s border with
Chad while other troops were stationed in the East and at
Kordofan.

“We can easily recruit fighters in Darfur and in other parts of
Sudan as well. Our major constraint is to buy weapons and military
equipment,” Ibrahim said, adding: “90 percent of our troops are
former government soldiers.”

“The government forced us into war because the use of weapons is
the only way to compel it to negotiate and discuss. We are fighting
to force the Khartoum regime to go to the negotiating table,” the
JEM leader said.

The 20-month-old conflict between the Sudanese government and the
rebel JEM and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Darfur, has resulted
in the death of 70,000 people, while 1.5 million others have been
displaced.