ADDIS ABABA, July 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The political talks between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in the country's western Darfur region ended here Saturday without any breakthrough acquired, a rebel leader said.
"It's over. The Movement has no plan to meet the Sudanese government," said Ahmed Tugod Lissan of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JSE) in Darfur.
The JSE and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) has insisted six demands they had set.
They will hold political talks with the government only after the government has fully fulfilled the demands, said Lissan.
"Our demands should be fully fulfilled toward progress," the rebel leader said. "It's difficult to conduct political dialogue with the Sudanese government's failure to disarm Janjaweed militia and try criminals."
Lissan also called on the international community to interfere in the disarmament of Janjaweed.
"If the Sudanese government fail to disarm Janjaweed, the international community should, through the United Nations, disarm them," said Lissan.
The Sudanese government met with the JSE and the SLM in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday morning to deal with Darfur crisis, which was termed by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis.
The two rebel groups on Thursday laid down their conditions in the peace talks sponsored by the African Union (AU), with forcing troops withdrawal high on their agenda.
In a list read out by SLM representative Adam Ali Shogan, the "removal of government troops and Janjaweed militia from Darfur,including those who are integrated into the police or other government offices" was the top priority to be addressed in the meeting.
The other conditions are access for an international inquiry into genocide charges, bringing criminals who committed genocideor ethnic cleansing to justice, creating unimpeded humanitarian access for delivery of food aid, release of prisoners of war and detainees and agreement on a neutral venue for future talks.
The Sudanese government refused here on Friday to accept the six conditions, saying they are "unpractical" and "political talks" should be held without preconditions.
However, Ibrahim Mohammed, spokesman of Sudanese delegationsaid Friday that all prisoners of war will be released except those who were accused of committing crimes.
He also said the Sudanese government will accept peacekeepers from African countries, who will be deployed in Darfur to provide protection for the AU's observers and the civilians in that region,where at least 10,000 people have been killed and over one million displaced since the indigenous revolted against the Khartoum government in February, 2003. Enditem |