Sudan says head of southern rebels involved in conflict in western Darfur

PARIS, Sept 16 (AFP) — The Sudanese government on Thursday accused the head of a rebel group in southern Sudan, John Garang, of being involved in the conflict in the western region of Darfur.

“He is not distant from what’s happening in Darfur: directly or indirectly, he is there,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Fidail el Tijani on Radio France International, referring to Garang.

Long-running talks to end a 21-year war in southern Sudan, sparked when Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rose up against the government in Khartoum, are at an advanced stage but have been bogged down over security issues.

The talks adjourned in July and are due to resume next month to try to iron out differences between Khartoum and the southern rebels over the military aspect of a power-sharing pact.

El Tijani, who was in Paris for talks on the conflict in Darfur, in which some 50,000 people have died in 19-months of war, said Khartoum was putting off signing a definitive peace pact with the southern rebels because “we feel there should not be peace if, at the same time, they are backing a rebellion somewhere else.”