UN says new rebel groups should join Darfur talks

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, Dec 1 (Reuters) – The United Nations said on Wednesday that new rebel factions fighting in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur should join peace talks sponsored by the African Union in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

A member of Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) walks with his rifle at Ashma village 30 km (19 miles) from Nyala, south Darfur, October 6, 2004.

Bringing in the new factions, which are not parties to a ceasefire, would benefit everyone, Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the U.N. advance mission in Sudan, told a news conference.

Achouri also said that the deployment of an enlarged AU force to Darfur had been delayed because donor countries had not fulfilled their commitments to provide equipment for the force to monitor a shaky ceasefire.

Two main Darfur rebel groups are in talks with Khartoum in Abuja, but two more factions which defected from the main groups months ago have been blamed for military operations. The small groups say they are not bound by the ceasefire signed in April.

The National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD) has been particularly active.

“If these groups, and particularly the NMRD, continue to be active in the area, I do believe that it is in the interests of everybody that this group and any other group would join the table of negotiations,” Achouri said.

“Otherwise we’ll end up with the situation where you have the phenomenon of warlordship all over the place and the situation will be completely out of control,” she said. The United Nations is looking into ways to contain the groups and bring them into a negotiating process, she added.

After years of skirmishes between Arab nomads and mostly non-Arab farmers over scarce resources in arid Darfur, rebels took up arms early last year. They accuse Khartoum of neglecting Darfur and arming Arab militias known as Janjaweed to loot and burn non-Arab villages.

LISTS OF JANJAWEED MEMBERS

Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels but denies any links to the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.

Achouri said that in response to a U.N. Security Council demand for lists of Janjaweed members, the government had given the United Nations just two names — one Janjaweed leader and one member who had been detained.

Achouri said about 1,000 African Union troops had already been deployed, but the expanded AU force with a final strength of around 3,300 had not yet fully deployed because donor countries had not provided their equipment.

“We are continuing our efforts to press on the countries who promised to provide the AU with the requisite support for it to be deployed…” she said. ” … there’s no point in deploying troops without equipment …”

AU sources had previously said the reason for the delay was that the African Union was having difficulty finding enough trained soldiers.

A Western diplomat in Khartoum confirmed the AU had logistical problems with finding troops. “They have the equipment ready to go,” the diplomat told Reuters.

Achouri said the United Nations had unconfirmed reports of armed tribesmen attacking villages near the town of Tawilla in North Darfur. They were probably Arab tribesmen retaliating for a rebel attack on the town last week, she added.

One of the rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said on Wednesday that a joint army-Janjaweed force had attacked three villages between the towns of Nyala and El Fasher this week, killing 96 civilians.

JEM official Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, speaking by telephone from Darfur, named the villages as Edwa, Maksoura and Jurf.

U.N. officials said they had not heard that report.