Eastern Sudan rebels question Libya’s peace mediation

Dec 28, 2005 (ASMARA) — East Sudan’s key rebel faction said on Wednesday Libya was no longer fit to broker peace in eastern Sudan, accusing Tripoli of facilitating negotiations that seem designed to split the eastern rebel alliance.

Amna Dirar, Vice President of the Eastern Front, said her group was expecting to travel to Tripoli for peace talks with the Sudanese government in January.

But media reports in Libya announced this week that Sudanese government officials had signed an agreement in Tripoli with the leader of the Rashaida Free Lions.

Dirar questioned Libya’s involvement in the agreement which appeared to undermine the unity of the Eastern Front, which was formed in February after the merger of Rashaida Free Lions and the main rebel group, the Beja Congress.

“It is very difficult now to go to Libya, because we were expecting to go together as the Eastern Front,” Dirar said. “We cannot accept Libya as a mediator.”

However, Dirar said the Eastern Front was waiting for more details of the agreement before making a final decision on whether to abandon the January talks.

There was no immediate comment from the Libyan and Sudanese governments.

But Dirar said: “We are afraid this is part of the (Sudanese) government way of doing things — to split the unity of the people – as a means of negotiation.”

Neglect by the central government in Khartoum is cited as the key cause of conflict throughout Africa’s largest country.

Eastern Sudan’s low level insurgency accelerated earlier this year, when police opened fire on a peaceful march killing and injuring dozens of residents in Port Sudan.

(Reuters)