Sudan’s Darfur rebels reject Libyan proposal, talks end Tuesday

ABUJA, Dec 20 (AFP) — Sudan’s two main rebel movements rejected Libya’s latest initiative to resolve the Darfur crisis as African Union mediators set Tuesday as the end of their round of talks.

“They (the AU mediation and Libyan teams) want to know our new position on the new (Libyan) initiative. We clearly stated that at this specific moment, we don’t need any new initiative,” spokesman of Justice, Equality Movement (JEM), Ahmed Tugod, said on behalf of the two rebel movements.

Tugod said the rebels accepted the AU’s conclusion that the Sudan government should withdraw immediately from the area being occupied by its troops to their original position.

He spoke after consultations between the AU mediators and the Libyan team that brought the new initiative on the resolution of the crisis from Khartoum.

“We stated clearly that if there is any other issue related to the (Libyan) initiative, it should be presented to the Joint Commission of the AU. This is the position of the two movements.

“At the end of this consultation, we were asked by the chairman of the meeting, Sam Ibok, to come (back) tomorrow at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) and that will be the closing session for this round of the talks,” added Tugod.

“The new (Libyan) position is like creating a new body outside the mechanism which we had before. Our answer to this is that we do not need a new mechanism other than the mechanism we had before,” he also said.

African diplomats said Libyan envoy Ali Triki, at the request of AU chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president, had met rebel leaders and would also hold talks with the Sudanese government delegation to the Abuja conference.

Talks to end the 22-month-old conflict broke down last week when the rebel JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) walked out in protest at a renewed army offensive against their positions.