Region | Sudan
Darfur rebels challenge Khartoum to talks or war
Khartoum must sit down to Darfur peace talks by the end of the year or face all-out war, the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who launched an unprecedented attack on the capital this month said.
- Agencies
- Published: 17:49 May 18, 2008
Khartoum: Khartoum must sit down to Darfur peace talks by the end of the year or face all-out war, the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who launched an unprecedented attack on the capital this month said.
In an interview on Sunday, Khalil Ibrahim, who has a $250,000 price on his head after the attack on Khartoum, in which more than 200 people were killed, also urged Egypt to release three JEM officials it arrested in Cairo afterwards.
"Within this year, we have to end the suffering of our people of Darfur either by war or by negotiating a political solution," he told reporters by satellite telephone.
"Whichever the government accepts we will do."
The rebels were only stopped at the bridges over the Nile to the heart of Khartoum from the western suburb of Omdurman, a few kilometres from the army headquarters and the presidential palace on May 10.
It was the first time rebels from Sudan's marginalised regions managed to bring their war to the capital.
"There will be no peace in Khartoum without peace in the marginalised regions, in Darfur," Ibrahim said, warning he would attack the capital again if the government chose war instead of talks.
"We are people of one nation," he said. "Part of us cannot enjoy peace in Khartoum while others are dying. Either we are all at war or we are all at peace."
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