Darfur JEM leader arrives in Libya for talks on peace process

August 11, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — The leader of the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim arrived in Libya for talks with officials there on efforts to revive the stalled peace process.

Hussein said that JEM values the Libyan role in seeking a political solution to the Darfur conflict given its proximity to the region giving it a unique perspective of the conflict.

However, he stressed that the movements wants Qatar to remain the venue of peace talks with the Sudanese government despite media reports in Khartoum indicating otherwise.

Ibrahim’s visit as the Ghazi Salah Al-Deen the Sudanese presidential adviser who is in charge with Darfur dossier, left Libya after holding talks on ways to settle differences between Darfur rebel factions.

A group of rebel factions, who had already agreed since last March to negotiate with Khartoum on a common ground paper and one delegation, met last July in Cairo to discuss an Egyptian proposal to form one group.

During the three-day meeting in Cairo, the rebels disagreed on who would lead this new structure and its representation. The leader of United Resistance Front (URF) Bahr Idriss Abu Garda showed more support to the Egyptian proposal and said it would be better to postpone the talks until the unification.

However, Abdullah Yahiya of SLM-Unity preferred to negotiate with common ground agenda and a united delegation.

The United Nations – African Union (AU) Joint Chief Mediator Dijibril Bassole had planned to bring together the rebel factions of Tripoli group with the Sudanese government delegation and flew to Tripoli to finalize the preparation for the first round of talks between the two parties.

The JEM spokesperson said its delegation had no intention of meeting with any of the other rebel groups in Libya or the Sudanese delegation.

Since last February, Darfur joint mediation and the Qatari government which hosts the process organized two rounds of talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel JEM.

On February 17, Sudan and JEM signed a goodwill agreement in order to build confidence between the two parties prior to the peace talks. However, Darfur rebels accused Khartoum of not implementing the signed agreement particularly the release of Prisoners of War (POWs) and the improvement of humanitarian situation.

In May, the mediation attempted to bridge the differences between the two sides but JEM reiterated it would not resume talks without the implementation of the two issues.

(ST)