Darfur rebels say not right time for peace talks
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, July 15 (Reuters) – A Darfur rebel group will not enter into discussions with the Sudanese government at peace talks due to open on Thursday because Khartoum has failed to honour any agreements so far, an official of the group said.
Ahmed Tugod Lissan, general coordinator of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said he would sit in the same room as Khartoum officials only to put three conditions to the meeting for JEM’s further participation in peace efforts.
“This is not the right time to engage in political dialogue when all these agreements are not respected by the Sudanese government,” he told Reuters.
“The Sudanese government’s policy of ethnic cleansing aimed at eradicating non-Arabs from lands they hold continues unabated,” he said, adding JEM wanted the international community to send in a peacekeeping force with a robust mandate to end the conflict.
He declined to provide details about the three conditions he plans to put to the African Union (AU)-hosted talks between Sudan’s Islamist government and Darfur rebels.
The meeting at AU headquarters has been convened to discuss the status of a shaky ceasefire in the remote western region, disarmamant of combatants, the humanitarian situation and deployment of AU ceasefire monitors, AU officials said.
The United Nations says the fighting has displaced more than one million people, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. As many as 30,000 people have been killed.
JEM and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), say the government has armed Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge.
The situation has gained increased urgency with the rainy season already affecting parts of Darfur. Aid workers have said the rain, in addition to continued security concerns, will severely hamper desperately needed humanitarian operations.
But Darfur peace efforts remain difficult, despite pressure from the 53-nation AU, the United Nations and the United States.
Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, says Sudan has opened its doors to aid groups trying to help the displaced in Darfur but militia are still attacking villagers.
After U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s visit this month to Sudan and neighbouring Chad, where about 200,000 Darfur refugees are encamped, Sudan signed a joint communique vowing to disarm the militias, allow unrestricted aid access in the remote west and speed up peace talks with the rebels.
Khartoum signed a humanitarian ceasefire with the two rebel groups on April 8, but both sides have since accused each other of violations.
The two rebels groups launched their rebellion in Darfur last year after long conflict between Arab nomads and black African villagers.
Participants at Thursday’s talks include the Sudanese government, rebel officials, and representatives of the AU, European Union, the United Nations and United States.