Darfur rebel group sets terms for peace talks with Sudanese government
(Adds details of fighting in and around Buram)
By Nima Elbagir
KHARTOUM, March 23 (Reuters) – Western Sudanese rebels said on Tuesday they were ready for peace tallks with the government if it disarmed Arab militia the rebels say attack and loot African villages in the name of the state.
A U.N. official last week said the pro-government Arab militias in the western Darfur region were carrying out killings of African villagers reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide.
A spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels said it also wanted a ceasefire, an international inquiry into Darfur and the immobilisation of Sudan’s airforce, which witnesses say has bombed Darfur towns.
“We are prepared to hold talks with the Khartoum government if our conditions are met… As long as international observers are present we are prepared to negotiate in any neutral country,” JEM spokesman Suleiman Adam said.
Two rebel groups in the western Darfur region launched a revolt in February, 2003 accusing the government of neglect.
JEM has not stated conditions for peace talks before, but the other Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), said it would resume peace talks with Khartoum if it allowed international observers to attend negotiations.
The SLM/A signed a ceasefire with the government in September but peace talks broke down in December.
“We continue in our military operations because there is no ceasefire, so we continue to fight. But we are prepared to negotiate on humanitarian issues in any neutral country,” SLM/A spokesman Muhamed Mursal said on Tuesday.
A Sudanese government spokesman in southern Darfur told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday SLAM/A rebels made a brief incursion into Buram late of Monday afternoon, killing a police commissioner, a tribal leader and two civilians.
“The rebels rushed into the town in their cars. The attack was disorganised and the losses we suffered were inflicted in a haphazard manner. They were in and out almost immediately,” said regional spokesman Gadallah Goudatallah. Buram, about 900 km (560 miles) southwest of Khartoum, was the scene of another rebel attack a week ago and the rebels said on Tuesday that they held the town.
“We are in control of the town… The government fielded a military convoy to repulse our attack and we forced their convoy into retreat towards Nyala. At present half of our forces are occupying Buram and the other half are surrounding Nyala,” said SLM spokesman Mohammed Mursal. Nyala is the provincial capital.
Mursal said the rebels shot down a helicopter and killed 450 out of 800 to 900 government troops in the area. The rebels have repeatedly given very high figures for the casualties among their opponents. Fourteen rebels were killed, he added.
The Sudanese government has been negotiating in Kenya with separate rebels in southern Sudan to end to more than two decades of civil war between north and south.