Darfur

Darfur, ribelli bloccano i colloqui di pace col governo sudanese
venerdì 20 marzo 2009 15:11

IL CAIRO (Reuters) - Il Movimento per la giustizia e l'uguaglianza (Jem), fra i più grossi gruppi di ribelli nel Darfur, ha annunciato oggi di aver deciso di fermare i colloqui di pace con il governo sudanese dopo l'espulsione delle agenzie di aiuto nella regione.
"Il movimento non può negoziare con il governo del (presidente sudanese Omar Hassan) al-Bashir", ha detto a Reuters per telefono il leader del Jem Khalil Ibrahim.


Darfur rebel group halts peace talks with KhartoumFine modulo

IM

Fri Mar 20, 1:34 pm ET
seen here in February 2009, told AFP his group …
KHARTOUM (AFP) – The leader of a key Darfur rebel group announced on Friday the end of peace talks with the Sudanese government after Khartoum's expulsion of foreign aid agencies from the war-ravaged region.
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) chief Khalil Ibrahim told AFP his group will not attend further Qatari-brokered peace talks with the government of President Omar al-Beshir.
"We decided collectively not to go to Doha unless Beshir allows the 13 international NGOs that have been expelled to come back to Sudan," said Ibrahim.
He also demanded Khartoum's release of JEM prisoners as a condition for renewed talks.
His rebel group last month in Doha signed an accord with Khartoum on a package of confidence-building measures, paving the way for substantive peace negotiations.
But earlier this month the group said peace talks were no longer possible with the Khartoum government after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Beshir on March 4 for war crimes in Darfur.
Beshir retaliated to the ICC warrant by ordering the expulsion of 13 international aid agencies from the vast Darfur region of western Sudan, sparking international concern about the plight of its civilian population.
The United Nations says the action against the aid agencies would leave 1.1 million people without food, 1.5 million without health care and more than a million without drinking water.
Many of the 300,000 people who the United Nations says have died in the Darfur conflict starved or died from disease. Sudan says the United Nations warnings and figures are exaggerated and puts the overall death toll at 10,000.
Beshir has said Sudanese authorities will replace the work of the foreign aid agencies and warned that Khartoum wanted no foreign aid groups on the ground within a year.
But Ibrahim said local agencies would not be able to carry out the work. "The local NGOs don't have the capacity" of the international aid organisations which have been expelled, he said.
He also urged displaced Darfuris living in camps "not to receive any help from Omar el-Beshir ... He wants to get rid of the camps. His intention is to kill our people."
More than 2.7 million people have fled their homes in Darfur since ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in February 2003.

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