Sudan to offer western rebels amnesty for peace
KHARTOUM, March 30 (Reuters) – The Sudanese government said on Tuesday it would offer rebels in western Sudan a general amnesty if they signed a peace deal during talks to begin shortly in Chad.
Rebels launched an uprising more than a year ago against the government of the oil-producing country accusing it of neglecting the arid western region of Darfur, which lies near the Chad border.
The two rebel groups have said they would attend the talks, sponsored by the United States and the European Union, in the Chadian capital N’Djamena. Khartoum said talks would begin on Tuesday but a rebel group said they would start on Wednesday.
Peace talks late last year with one of the groups failed.
A U.N. official said this month that pro-government Arab militias in Darfur were carrying out killings of African villagers reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide.Khartoum calls the militias outlaws and dismisses comparisons with Rwanda.
“The government will grant a general amnesty to all those who sign (a peace agreement) with the government at the N’Djamena conference,” Sudanese Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin told reporters in Khartoum.
Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said a government delegation headed by Investment Minister Al-Sherif Ahmed Omar Badr had left for Chad earlier on Tuesday and said talks were due to begin later in the day.
“The delegation will try to convince the different parties that the solution is in dialogue… The Chadian presidency is setting the agenda and our delegation has been briefed regarding the government line,” he said but did gave not details.
Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the two rebel groups, told Reuters on Monday that his group would attend the talks, adding he expected them to start on Wednesday.
He said the group had agreed to attend the talks on condition that international observers be present, that the talks would be directly with the government and that they would address issues beyond the regional conflict in Darfur.
“I am presuming that the government has accepted these conditions,” Nur said.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the other western Darfur rebel group, said earlier this month it would attend the talks but was not available for comment on Tuesday.
Separately, the Sudanese government is involved in peace talks with another rebel group in the south of the vast African country, seeking to end a civil war that has ravaged the southern region for more than 20 years.