INTERVIEW-Sudan rebel leader hopes to solve Darfur crisis

By Gilles Castonguay

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) – The head of southern Sudan’s former rebels hopes to help solve the crisis in Darfur once he joins the government in July as part of a peace agreement that put an end to Africa’s longest-running civil war.

John Garang, head of the main southern Sudanese rebel group, speaks during a conference on ‘Federalism’ at the European Parliament in Brussels, Saturday March 5, 2005. (AP).

John Garang, who will become vice president under the deal that the southern rebels signed with the Khartoum government in January, said negotiations was the only way to end the separate conflict in the western region of the country.

“At the end of the day, humanitarian assistance (and) protection of the civilian population will not be enough — you need a political solution,” he told Reuters on Saturday after speaking at an international conference in Brussels.

“When the SPLM (Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement) becomes part of the government … I believe there is every reason to be optimistic that there will be a solution to Darfur,” he said.

“You cannot make peace in the south and make war in Darfur,” he said. “It is untenable.”

Garang is chairman of the SPLM, the political arm of the rebel army SPLA that fought the government in a 21-year old civil war in Sudan’s south. The conflict claimed more than 2 million lives and forced more than 4 million from their homes.

In Sudan, SPLA chief commander Salva Kiir Mayardit told Reuters late on Friday that militia fighters allied to the Khartoum government had attacked positions held by the former rebels, warning it could undermine the peace agreement.

Garang did not mention the attacks and his spokesman later said he could not comment as they had been travelling and had not been able to contact their people in Sudan.

EX-REBELS TO KHARTOUM

Garang said he was sending about 70 SPLM representatives to open an office in Khartoum in preparation for their joining the government in July.

“What we are doing now will create the necessary momentum … to assure that we are serious about implementing the agreement,” he said.

In the western region of Darfur, rebels took up arms two years ago, accusing the government of neglecting the arid region and favouring Arab over non-Arab tribes. The conflict has driven around two million from their homes.

Darfur rebels say Arab militias the government armed to help put down their uprising have conducted a campaign of village-burning and rape in the region. The government denies links with the militia, known as Janjaweed.

A senior U.S. official said on Wednesday that Sudan’s government and Darfur rebels have a “reasonable chance” of securing an effective ceasefire at African Union-sponsored talks due to start this month.

But Garang voiced doubt about the current government’s sincerity. “The government of Khartoum is complicit in the events in Darfur,” he said. “You cannot turn around and ask the same government to solve the problem.”

Garang called in February for the creation of a neutral force of up to 30,000 troops from the government, the SPLM and other countries to stop the fighting in Darfur.

He said the proposal was under discussion but that the Khartoum government was “not comfortable” with it.

International aid agency Oxfam has said only half of the 3,320 personnel promised by the African Union have arrived in Darfur and their efforts have been hindered by shortages of funding and a lack of logistical support.

“The African Union is doing a good job (but) it is inadequate,” Garang said.