- Title: ETHIOPIA: SUDANESE REBELS FROM DARFUR WALK OUT OF PEACE TALKS.
- Date: 19th July 2004
- Summary: (U1)ADDIS ABABA,ETHIOPIA (RECENT, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV/CU: EXTERIOR OF AFRICAN UNION HEAD QUARTERS IN ADDIS ABABA; FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. VARIOUS: DELEGATES IN MEETING ROOM DISCUSSING UNREST IN DARFUR (9 SHOTS) 0.49 (U1)ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JULY 17, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. SOUNDBITE (English) AHMED TUGOD LISSAN, JUSTICE AND EQUALIT
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA7V6HSIIA00HUIJQNC08Y1VXZX
- Story Text: Rebel Sudanese representatives from Darfur walk out
of peace talks.
Rebels from Sudan's Darfur region walked out of
African Union-mediated peace efforts on Saturday (July 17),
saying they would return only when the government had met
their six conditions for talks.
The move -- which Khartoum said demonstrated the
rebels' lack of commitment to peace -- deals a blow to
efforts to end an 18-month-old conflict in the west of
Africa's biggest country that has created one of the
world's worst humanitarian crises.
The government is facing world-wide protests over the
bloodshed, which the United Nations says has displaced more
than one million people. As many as 30,000 people have been
killed.
"We explained our position earlier - that we are not
going to negotiate with the Sudanese government clearly
unless they meet the following conditions: number one - The
Sudanese government must disarm the janjaweed Arab-militias
and in this we clearly stated that these groups of
janjaweed it is operating closely with the Sudanese army.
They are attacking the civilians - killing the innocent -
destroying and burning the villages to the ground. And this
is the stated and explicit policy of the Sudanese
government - behind this policy this policy of ethnic
cleansing and genocide adopted by the Sudanese government.
Therefore it is the responsibility of the international
community to bring these people to justice," Ahmed Tugod
Lissan of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM),
said after meeting African Union (AU) mediators in Addis
Ababa.
He said he was speaking on behalf of JEM and the Sudan
Liberation Army (SLA), two rebel groups who launched a
revolt in February 2003 in the west of the oil-producing
country after long conflict between African villagers and
Arab nomads.
Disarmament of the Janjaweed Arab militia is one of six
conditions the JEM and SLA have set for participation in
AU-mediated peace talks aimed at ending the bloodshed.
The other conditions are: provide access for an inquiry
into genocide charges, prosecute criminals who committed
genocide or ethnic cleansing, allow unimpeded humanitarian
access, free prisoners of war and set a neutral venue for
future talks.
After the walkout the AU said its mediators would
intensify consultations with the parties to determine how
to advance political dialogue. An AU statement also urged
the warring parties to implement a ceasefire signed in
April.
Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Relations Najeeb
al-Kheir Abdul Wahab told reporters the walkout showed the
rebels lack of commitment to the spirit of the ceasefire.
"We have been surprised by the withdrawal of the
delegations of the SLA/SLM and the JEM from the talks and
we have been surprised by the conditions that they have set
for the continuation of the talks. And this withdrawal
reflects according the views of the government of the Sudan
- reflects the lack of commitment on the part of the two
delegations to secure an end for the sufferings of the
people of Darfur and also reflects their disrespect of the
supervision of the AU (African Union) for peace talks and
also reflects their disbelief in political and peaceful
negotiations to the problem of Darfur," he said.
Neither the SLA nor JEM met government delegates since
the 53-nation AU launched the latest bid to restart
Darfur's peace process at its headquarters in Addis Ababa
on Thursday.
The rebels accuse the government of arming Janjaweed
Arab militias to loot and burn African villages in a
campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge.
AU officials who struggled for three days to convene a
rebel-government meeting said their task had never looked
very promising because Darfur's top rebel leaders had
chosen instead to attend a Sudanese opposition conference
held in Eritrea.
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