Sudan: Ex-Darfur rebel group rejects Arab initiative

Sudan: Ex-Darfur rebel group rejects Arab initiative
199 words
12 September 2008
06:08 am GMT
BBC Monitoring Middle East
English

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Text of report by populist Sudanese newspaper Al-Watan on 12 September

The [former rebel] Sudan Liberation Movement led by the senior presidential assistant, Mani Arkoi Minawi, has rejected the Arab initiative to put an end to the crisis in Darfur by bringing the government and Darfur movements together [for talks]. Minawi’s movement further called on the movements that had not signed the Abuja peace agreement not to join the government in negotiations and called to exert pressure through arms.

In a statement to Al-Watan, the movement’s spokesman, Al-Tayyib Khamis, said that their experience had proved that it was useless to sign agreements with the government however, he went on to say that his movement remained totally committed to the Abuja agreement and would not raise arms but would rather put pressure on the government through available civil means.

Khamis further said the multitude of initiatives to resolve the Darfur crisis would only serve to revive it and pointed out that any efforts to reach a solution that surpassed the Abuja agreement were unacceptable to his movement.
Source: Al-Watan, Khartoum, in Arabic 12 Sep 08