US envoy convinces Darfur rebel JEM delegation to travel to Doha talks

May 5, 2009 (DOHA) – The US Special Envoy to Sudan left the Chadian capital having convinced the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to send a delegation to Qatari-mediated talks in Chad, from which JEM had withdrawn in the wake of the March 4 indictment of the Sudanese president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

US Special Envoy Scott Gration was in the Chadian capital on Sunday, May 3, and met the Chadian president Deby where he discussed with him the Darfur crisis. He also met with the JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim.

Having escorted the rebel delegation to Doha, the US official will now travel tomorrow to Khartoum marking his second trip to the city since taking up his role. Gration in his four day visit is expected to bring new proposals to end the Darfur conflict.

The spokesman of the rebel movement, Ahmed Hussein Adam, confirmed Gration’s role in pressuring the rebel group to attend the talks, saying that JEM “has dispatched a delegation to Qatar in response to pleas enunciated by both the Darfur peace partners and the US envoy to Sudan, Mr. Gration.”

But Adam stressed that the rebel delegation would not re-negotiate the terms of the Goodwill Agreement and Confidence Building Measures signed on January 17, 2009, which it says the government violated by expelling foreign aid groups.

“The remit of the delegates is expressly confined to: perusal of the mechanisms and deadlines” of the January 17 agreement said Adam from Doha. “The delegation shall not, in any way, exceed this remit save after assurance that the conditions of the IDPs will improve within an agreed period of time – much better than it was before the expulsion of the 13 foreign NGOs.”

Adam further clarified a precondition on the aid issue before moving forward: “The government pronouncements on this matter shall by no means be the yardstick according to which such improvement will be gauged. The true verdict on this improvement is that of the IDPs themselves and the international community as represented by the UN humanitarian relief agencies currently administering relief aid in the area.”

Another area of mistrust is the fact that a court in Khartoum has issued death sentences against imprisoned rebels for their alleged role in a JEM raid on the capital in May 2008.

In its statement from Doha, the rebel movement said it shall “secure guarantees that JEM prisoners of war (POWs) in Government of Sudan (GoS) prisons be released within an agreed deadline, and the hostages exchanged also within an agreed deadline before the restart of further peace talks leading to ceasefire or a framework agreement.”

Finally, the movement reiterated that it will deal with only representatives of the Government of National Unity “rather than mere representatives of the National Congress Party.”

JEM’s forces, now largely stationed in rear bases in Chadian territory, are reportedly mobilized to help Chad’s army confront an incursion today made tens of kilometres into Chadian territory by two armoured columns of Sudan-backed Chadian rebels. JEM’s involvement in the defence of Chad is alleged by Sudanese officials but denied by the JEM chairman.

(ST)