Uncertainty over peace talks with W. Sudan rebels
By Nima Elbagir
DARFUR, Sudan, April 17 (Reuters) – Rebels from western Sudan said on Friday they would go to peace talks and had not threatened to withdraw from a ceasefire, adding that previous reports to the contrary were incorrect.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched a revolt in Darfur last year, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the poor area and arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages, a charge the government denies.
Earlier on Friday SLM/A spokesman Musa Hamid al-Doa said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) would not go to the peace talks and would not abide by a ceasefire in effect since Sunday if the government did not stop attacks in the area.
But Al-Doa later said he had been given misleading information and another spokesman retracted his comments.
“No officially sanctioned statements were made by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) to imply that we would not abide by the ceasefire or not go to Addis Ababa or Chad,” said Mohammed Mursal, spokesman for the office of the secretary-general.
Analysts say there is infighting in the SLM/A’s leadership with a power struggle between prominent figures in the armed and political wings.
Mursal said there would be an internal investigation to establish what had led to the confusion.
Separate African Union talks are proceeding in Addis Ababa to arrange a monitoring commission to observe the shaky truce between the government and the two groups which came into effect on Sunday.
In Geneva, U.N. officials said a team of human rights experts sent to investigate charges of “ethnic cleansing” around Darfur had ended their mission without getting permission to visit the troubled region.
The United Nations says Darfur is one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, with hundreds of thousands forced to flee into neighbouring Chad to escape the marauding militias.
Earlier this month, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs Jan Egeland said that what was happening in and around Darfur was “ethnic cleansing” and urged the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese government to intervene to halt the activities of the militias.
Despite being unable to travel to Darfur, the U.N. investigators talked to refugees and officials in Chad and will make a report on the situation, U.N. human rights spokesman Jose Diaz said.
(Additional reporting by Richard Waddington in Geneva)