Sudanese rebel group JEM dismisses peace talks and calls for Darfur's sovereignty

War in Sudan has gone on almost non-stop for the past 50 years. Who can tell if it will go on for another 50 years or longer ...

The chair of Darfur rebels group JEM, Khalil Mohammed, on Wednesday dismissed Darfur peace talks as "a waste of time, energy and resources of stakeholders." He said the peace talks would not achieve any meaningful result as they were "merely going in circles."

Mohammed said that if the African Union's April deadline for peace in the region lapsed without success, "the people of Darfur will be left with no choice other than to ask for self-determination".

"If we do not get our own sovereignty, the only alternative is a forceful change of the government in Khartoum," Chairman of Darfur rebel group JEM threatened.

Full report (Sapa-dpa) 30 Mar 2006.

Further reading:

Mar 24 2006 Sharia row hits South Sudan peace deal - Sudan's SPLM pull out of team drafting Khartoum constitution

Mar 30 2006 Eric Reeves Darfur, President Bush, and the Triumph of Expediency

Apr 1 2006 Al-Bashir Interview - US makes Sudan problems part of US politics

Sudanese government not pursuing policy of genocide in Darfur

Many quarters, including UN special envoy Jan Pronk, refer to what is happening in Darfur as ethnic cleansing. People who refer to Darfur as genocide ought to take note of the following excerpt from International Justice Tribune on Darfur, Sudan:

The Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on 31 March 2005 in Resolution 1593 (2005), after almost two months of negotiations over how to prosecute the crimes occurring in Darfur.

The Resolution was voted in by 11-0 with four members abstaining: the United States, Algeria, Brazil and China. The International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, chaired by the Italian judge Antonio Cassese, concluded in its report published on 31 January 2005 that crimes against humanity and war crimes such as killings, rape, pillaging and forced displacement have been committed since 1 July 2002 by the government-backed forces and the Janjaweed militia.

It declared, however, that the government of Sudan was not pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur.