Talks on Sudan’s Darfur conflict postponed a day as rebel split appears

NDJAMENA, April 20 (AFP) — Talks set for Tuesday between warring sides in western Sudan’s Darfur region have been delayed by a day, a member of the Chadian mediation team told AFP, as a split appeared within one of two rebel groups.

Talks in the Chadian capital are now set for Wednesday between a Sudanese government delegation and representatives of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), who agreed a truce on April 8.

But confusion surrounded who would represent the JEM at the talks aimed at finding a definitive settlement to the 14-month-old conflict, which has claimed up to 10,000 lives.

Hassan Khames Joruu, who described himself as the JEM’s political coordinator, said: “We are not ready to discuss any political issue, only an agenda.”

Speaking to AFP Libreville by telephone in Ndjamena, Joruu had said: “Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will talk about the ceasefire commission and a calendar of political issues.”

But the movement’s military spokesman, Colonel Abdallah Abdel Karim, said Joruu — whose name is on a list of JEM delegates to the talks — had never been part of the JEM and never would be.

Abdel Karim, speaking by telephone from Darfur, added: “(Joruu) is not part of the delegation and is a pure creation of the Chadian and Sudanese governments” to discredit the JEM.

“What Joruu says goes only for himself,” Abdel Karim, who normally signs JEM statements, added, insisting that political questions would be discussed on Wednesday.

In the surprise truce accord, the government and the JEM and SLM rebels pledged to guarantee safe passage for humanitarian aid to Darfur, free prisoners of war and disarm Arab militias blamed for most of the violence there.

The ceasefire is the third declared in the conflict, described by the United Nations as currently the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights catastrophe. The first two truces were short-lived.

The JEM has alleged numerous violations of the latest ceasefire, but Khartoum has denied the claims.

Joruu said that JEM president Khalil Mohammed Ibrahim, his brother Jibril, general secretary Mohammed Bechir Ahmed and coordinator Abubker Hamid Nour, who led the JEM delegation to Ndjamena at the beginning of April, “have been ejected from the JEM.”

Abdel Karim denied the claim, saying that the April ceasefire agreement had been initialled by Hamid Nour on behalf of the JEM and that the only JEM delegation was that led by Hamid Nour, and made up of three other people, who did not include Joruu.

A UN spokesman said in Geneva on Tuesday that Sudan would let a UN team into the country within days to probe alleged atrocities by government-backed militia in Darfur after initially denying them entry.