Threat to Darfur 'breakthrough'
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ABUJA, Nigeria -- An apparent breakthrough aimed at ending the crisis in Darfur seems set to be scuppered after Sudanese rebels rejected key conditions of the deal.
The rebels say they will not disarm or confine their fighters to bases until any political solution to end the conflict, including power and wealth sharing, has been agreed and implemented.
In peace talks mediated by the African Union in the Nigerian capital Abuja aimed at ending 18 months of revolt in Sudan's remote Darfur, the Sudanese government agreed to a proposal to send more AU troops to the region to help garrison rebel fighters.
At the same time Sudanese forces would disarm the Arab Janjaweed militias.
The rebels accuse Khartoum of arming Janjaweed to loot and burn non-Arab farming communities, an accusation the Sudanese government denies.
Sudan has already agreed to allowing about 300 AU forces to protect more than 100 observers of a shaky April cease-fire, including 150 Nigerian troops who are to leave for Sudan on Monday.
The peace talks had earlier been threatened with failure by the rebels' refusal to discuss garrisoning by Sudanese government forces.
But the rebels say they also oppose the AU-brokered plan.
"This is impossible. No rebel movement can accept to disarm before a political settlement," said Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, secretary-general of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Reuters reported.
"And we must be clear, not just after political agreement but after it is achieved -- whether it be one year, however long it takes," Garda said.
In Abuja, another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, said it also opposed garrisoning rebels, Reuters reported.
Observers told Reuters there could be no deal to end 18 months of fighting unless the rebels agreed to discuss garrisoning their fighters as part of an agreement that would also disarm the pro-government Arab militia, known as Janjaweed.
The United Nations says the fighting has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than a million people driven from their homes and more than 30,000 people killed.
The Darfur revolt erupted in February last year with a rebel offensive after years of low-level conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers over scarce resources in the arid western Sudanese region the size of France.
The government then mobilized Arab militias as axillaries in a campaign to crush the rebels.
The U.N. Security Council has given Sudan until August 30 to show progress in protecting civilians and disarming militia or face unspecified sanctions.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who visited the region this week, declared that "more needed to be done" to end the Darfur crisis.
He described Darfur as a test for African Union, saying Africa must not allow the specter of genocide to rise again and should increase efforts to end conflicts and encourage economic growth, (Full story)
Meanwhile, U.N. envoy Jan Pronk in a joint tour with Sudanese officials met Darfuri displaced who had been raped and attacked by Janjaweed.
Thursday's visit is his last before he reports to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on how Sudan has responded to Security Council demands. (Full story)
