Rebel JEM leader urges aid to Darfur refugees

January 7, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A rebel leader in Sudan’s troubled western Darfur province Monday said refugees in the region were suffering serious food shortages and promised aid agencies safe passage if they intervened.

“The need for food has become urgent and there is a significant lack in that area,” Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told AFP by telephone.

Ibrahim said displaced people in camps north of Geneina, western Darfur’s main town, were suffering food shortages and he called on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other aid agencies to intervene, saying his fighters were ready to offer them protection.

JEM rebels have recently stepped up attacks in West Darfur which has also been bombed by warplanes from neighbouring Chad attacking Chadian rebel bases located south of Geneina.

The Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which the Khartoum government says is backed by Chad, has said it is stepping up its attacks in the area around Geneina.

JEM commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Asher denied receiving Chadian support but said his forces had surrounded Geneina, a claim denied by Khartoum.

Asher also said his forces had shot and damaged a Sudanese military aircraft on Sunday which then made a forced landing at Geneina.

The group has refused to take part in UN-AU sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the violence in Darfur where 200,000 people have died and more than two million been displaced, according to international organisations.

(AFP)