Darfur’s JEM rebels open to Qatar talks

Author: 
REUTERS
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2010-10-24 21:22

JEM, seen
as the region’s most militarily powerful rebel force, walked out of talks in
the Qatari capital Doha in May, saying Sudan’s government had broken a
cease-fire and objecting to Khartoum’s decision to hold talks with other
insurgent groups.
The
withdrawal sparked a surge of violence in the remote western region and dealt a
heavy blow to the internationally- brokered negotiations, the latest in a
series of attempts to resolve the festering seven-year conflict.
JEM was
one of two mostly non-Arab rebel groups to revolt in 2003, accusing Khartoum of
marginalizing Darfur and starving it of funding.
Khartoum
mobilized troops and militias to crush the uprising, which Washington and some
activists say amounts to genocide, a charge dismissed by Sudan.
JEM said
it has met joint UN/African Union mediator Djibril Bassole in London and agreed
to send a small delegation to Doha to discuss ways the negotiations could be
“reformed.” “JEM is under no obligation by sending that team to engage in any
negotiations or to (make ) any commitments,” senior JEM official Al-Tahir
Al-Feki told Reuters.
He said
the team would discuss JEM’s demands over how the talks should be held and its
request for UN and international guarantees for the free movement of JEM leader
Khalil Ibrahim between Darfur and Doha. Ibrahim is currently in Libya after
being barred from entering Sudan or neighboring Chad.
Leaders
from JEM and Darfur’s rebel Sudan Liberation Army have been holding tentative
discussions with mediators in London and Paris in recent months but have so far
resisted pressure to return to full negotiations with the Sudanese government.
“Darfur’s
main rebel groups are in a wait-and-see mode until after the referendum,” said
one international observer who asked not to be named.
Sudan is
11 weeks away from the scheduled start of a referendum on whether the country’s
south should declare independence, a vote promised in a peace deal that ended a
separate conflict between Khartoum and southern rebels.
Analysts
have said the expected secession of the south might encourage rebel groups in
other parts of Sudan, especially if it is seen to weaken Sudanese President
Omar Bashir.
JEM has
said it is fighting for the political reform of all of Sudan and in 2008
launched an unprecedented attack on Khartoum in a bid to overthrow Bashir’s
government.
Darfur
lies in northern Sudan but borders southern Sudan.

Taxonomy upgrade extras: