Darfur mediator rejects JEM demand for separate talks

July 15, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur conflict mediator reiterated the need to involve all the rebel groups in the western Sudan region in Doha peace process brushing aside a demand for separate talks by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

The Joint Chief Mediator, Djibril Bassolé met Wednesday in Khartoum with the Sudanese Presidential Adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin who is in charge of the Darfur file to discuss the next round of talks in the coming month.

“I have provided a proposal to hold the next round of negotiations in August. We hope that can be achieved, and we are seeking a broad participation by the armed movements in Darfur,” Bassolé said following the meeting.

JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim threatened on Monday to pull out of the peace process if other rebel groups are convoyed to talk part in Doha peace process that started last February between Sudan’s government and JEM.

JEM says it gathered some 18 rebel groups and additional groups can join its delegation to avoid chaos during the negotiations.

But Bassole who met in Tripoli with other rebel groups in order to join the talks said “We will continue the discussion with Khalil Ibrahim to convince him that the lasting peace will only be realized through the participation of all movements.”

Tripoli groups finalized a common ground agreement and met this week in Egypt to foster their joint position during the peace process.

Bassolé further pointed out that his team is in contact with Abdel-Wahid Al Nur the founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement who rejects peace talks before to disarm government militias and the return of IDPs to their homeland.

“Abdel Wahid is still refusing to hold dialogue, but I am still optimistic about the possibility of his participation in the negotiations,” he said.

Sudanese government repeatedly reaffirmed the need to open the talks for the different rebel groups, saying that JEM does not represent the whole region.

The mediation seems bolstered in its position on the participation of the other rebel groups by the support of the international community to this move.

The US envoy Scott Gration met in Libya last month with Tripoli groups and encouraged them to take part in the peace process.

Talks between the Sudanese government and the JEM rebels are currently at deadlock as JEM insists on the implementation of two clauses included in a goodwill agreement signed last February: the release of its fighters detained by Khartoum and the humanitarian situation.

The Sudanese government asks JEM to sign a ceasefire agreement before the gradual release of 103 rebels sentenced to death by its courts after an attack on the capital in May 2008.

(ST)