Darfur rebel commander urges SLM leader to join talks

September 23, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A rebel commander in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur has called on an influential exiled leader to join peace talks with the government in Libya next month.

Abdelkarim Jarelnabi, who represents the Group of 19 (G19), which split from the Sudan Liberation Movement in 2006, urged Abdelwahid al-Nur who founded the SLM to attend the talks which are due to open in Tripoli on October 27.

The Tripoli meeting aims to broaden the Darfur peace agreement signed by the Khartoum government and one faction of the SLM in May 2006 to include those groups which did not sign it.

“Negotiations and the political process are the best choice,” Jarelnabi told AFP by telephone from his base in North Darfur state late Saturday.

Nur who is in exile in Paris, said on Wednesday that he would not join the Tripoli talks, saying that security needed to be restored before there could be any new negotiations with the government.

Nur’s movement is demanding full deployment of the new joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur before it will take part in any talks.

But Jarelnabi told AFP that Nur had lost touch with the suffering of the population while in exile and lacked a complete picture of the situation on the ground.

“We have a different vision to that of Mr. Nur over the strategy needed to end the conflict,” said Jarelnabi. “The problems can only be resolved through negotiations.”

The G19 has established a stronghold in North Darfur where it continues to be attacked by government forces with the most recent assault last Thursday, according to Jarelnabi.

Conflict in Darfur, combined with the effects of famine, has left at least 200,000 people dead and two million displaced since Khartoum enlisted Janjaweed Arab militia allies to put down an ethnic minority revolt in 2003.

Washington has accused Khartoum of genocide but the Sudanese authorities strongly deny the accusation and say only 9,000 people have died.

(AFP)