Khartoum projects to eliminate Darfur holdout rebels – JEM

July 28, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — A Darfur rebel group that refused to sign a peace deal for western Sudan in May accused the Khartoum government Friday of unleashing its feared Janjaweed militia in a bid to eradicate rebel holdouts.

“The Khartoum regime has begun implementing a military project that aims at an all-out assault on the parties which did not sign the farcical Abuja ‘agreement,'” Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) spokesman Ahmad Hussein Adam said.

Khartoum had mobilized “some 400 Janjaweed on horses and camels with full armament and logistic support, including 82 vehicles,” he said.

The peace agreement, which Khartoum signed with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army led by Minni Minawi in the Nigerian capital on May 5, requires the government to disarm the Janjaweed militia, accused of rape and murder of civilians in the arid desert region.

Another faction of the SLM/A led by Abdelwahid al-Nur, as well as the JEM refused to sign the agreement, saying that the peace deal did not meet their demands and did not provide any safeguards for implementation.

The JEM accused Khartoum of knowing “no alternative to war.” “[We] would like to bring to the attention of the African Union, the international community and above all, the Sudanese people, that this Khartoum regime is the party that rejects peace, closed all doors of dialogue and brought the cease-fire accord to a grave end,” it said.

“We assure our people in Darfur, in particular, and the Sudanese people, in general, that our brave forces vow to teach the Khartoum government a lesson it will never forget.”

(ST)