DOHA, April 21, 2009 (AFP) - Darfur's most active rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, on Tuesday rebuffed Qatari efforts to broker new peace talks with the Sudanese government.
The head of the JEM delegation, Jibril Khalil, charged that Khartoum had failed to honour a confidence-building deal brokered by Qatar in February that had been intended to pave the way for peace negotiations.
"We maintain our position to not sit down with the government unless real and clear progress is achieved on the ground, in terms of prisoners, displaced people, and especially after the ouster of humanitarian organisations," Khalil told AFP after meeting the Qatari state minister for foreign affairs.
JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam had made clear ahead of the meeting with Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud that the rebels' participation was not a sign of their readiness to resume talks with the Khartoum government.
"Our presence in Doha does not mean a continuation of the negotiations, but we came to discuss alternatives we can follow as a continuation of peace," Adam told reporters.
"The circumstances that have led to ending the negotiations still exist," he said, adding that February's confidence-building deal "had been breached on many levels."
He cited in particular Khartoum's expulsion of 13 foreign aid organisations from Darfur last month and death sentences handed down against 10 JEM rebels last week over an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital last year.
The JEM had already expressed doubts about the peace process after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant on March 4 for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime in February 2003. The government says 10,000 have been killed.
fb/mna/kir
Copyright (c) 2009 Agence France Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 04/21/2009 14:06:04
©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.
