West Sudan rebel group refuses joint peace talks
By Opheera McDoom
CAIRO, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A west Sudan rebel movement leader said on Thursday his group would not join peace talks between the government and another rebel group, and accused the Chadian mediators of bias in favour of Khartoum.
Khalil Ibrahim, chairman of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), also told Reuters from Paris that his group was prepared to hold separate negotiations with the government in the presence of international observers.
The comments come amid reports of fighting in the Darfur region in western Sudan, which JEM says has included government air raids that left dozens dead. Independent confirmation of the fighting is difficult to obtain from the remote area.
JEM, one of two main rebel groups that began fighting the government in February, accuses Khartoum of marginalising the poor region. The United Nations says more than 500,000 people have been displaced since the conflict began.
The other rebel group in the west, the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M), has reached a ceasefire deal with the government in September and began peace talks. A new round of talks, mediated by Chad, is due to start this month.
“The Chadian president called me to ask us to join the talks on December 10 but we refused,” 44-year-old Ibrahim said.
“We want separate talks…and we want international mediation… The Chad government is biased towards Khartoum,” he said, adding that the government was using Arab militias in their bid to sideline African communities.
Fighting between African farming communities and Arab cattle herders is common in Darfur, fed by rivalry over scarce water resources and pasture.
Ibrahim said JEM wanted a rotating presidency, equal distribution of Sudan’s natural resources and a federal system of government with autonomy for all states. He said Khartoum concentrated too much power in the capital and the north.
The conflict in western Sudan has been largely overshadowed by separate high-level peace talks between Khartoum and a southern-based rebel group that seeks to end a separate, 20-year-old conflict in the south of Africa’s largest country.
Ibrahim said JEM, established in 1993 in Darfur, had been planning an armed struggle since June 2001 after seeing what he called the success of southern rebels in forcing Khartoum to the negotiating table through fighting.
He said JEM had up to 30,000 fighters and some heavy artillery that factions loyal to the rebels in the Sudan army had sold them. There was no immediate way to independently confirm details.