Sudan links southern peace talks to Darfur rebellion

KHARTOUM, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Sudan accused southern rebel leader John Garang of backing an uprising in Darfur in the west, and said his support for western rebels could undermine talks to end 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan, a news agency with close links to the government reported on Wednesday.

“It would be difficult for the government to return to negotiations in Naivasha and reach a final solution if John Garang did not stop supporting the Darfur rebels,” presidential political adviser Qutbi al-Mahdi told the Sudanese Media Centre.

The Darfur rebellion, launched in February last year, has forced more than 1 million from their homes in what the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Darfur rebels say the government supports Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African farming villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge, but is under intense international pressure to solve the conflict.

Peace talks to end a separate, longer-running war in southern Sudan are expected to resume in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, but no date has been set.

Accords signed in May make the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the ruling National Congress Party the main partners in a coalition government, but outstanding issues remain before the accord takes affect.

Garang said last week success at the Naivasha talks was crucial to peace not only in the south but also in Darfur.

“The solution to Darfur, I see it as coming really through the Naivasha process. That is having a government of national unity in Khartoum which will be better able to solve the problem of Darfur. It’s very urgent indeed,” he told CNN television.

The southern conflict, which pits rebels in the mainly Christian or animist south against the Islamic government in Khartoum, has killed about 2 million people since 1983.