New rebel group in Sudan’s Darfur region welcomes negotiations offer

KHARTOUM, Dec 8 (AFP) — A new Sudanese rebel group that broke away from one of the main rebel movements in the troubled Darfur region Wednesday welcomed an offer by Khartoum for talks.

A young Sudan Liberation Army rebel patrols the town of Deribat in the Jebel Marra mountains of South Darfur state (Reuters).

The Reform and Development Movement (RDM) said it expected the talks to begin in the coming days in the Chadian capital Ndjamena.

“The movement welcomes the encounter” with the Khartoum government, “provided it is held in the presence of representatives of the international community,” said RDM coordinator general Hassan Khamis.

Days earlier, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail had said he was seeking talks with new rebel groups emerging in Darfur to persuade them to observe a fragile ceasefire and discuss issues related to aid and refugees.

He said the RDM had split from one of the two main rebel groups in Darfur — the Justice and Equality Movement — and was made up of between 1,000 and 3,000 fighters from the Zaghawah tribe

Khamis pledged his movement’s commitment to the ceasefire. “Although we have not signed it, and, for humanitarian considerations, we have allowed the relief organisations to deliver the humanitarian assistance to the affected people in Darfur.”

Chadian Security and Immigration Minister Abdel Rahman Mussa Wednesday told the independent Al Rai Al Aam that preparations for the meeting had been completed ahead of the negotiations.

Hostilities have flared in Darfur in recent weeks, with the government and rebels both refusing to take responsibility for violations of a ceasefire that was signed in April 2004.

More than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the Darfur area since the revolt erupted in February 2003, according to the UN. Another 1.5 million have been displaced.