JEM threatens to leave Doha talks (yawn)

JEM threatens to leave Doha talks again. Yawn. Boring. I wish JEM would shut up and disappear back under the rock from which they have crawled. Civilian gunmen make my blood boil. Who do they think they are and why are they getting away with murder? Note here below the peacekeeping costs all because of a bunch of criminals who are free to roam and do as they please. 

After more than five years of blogging Sudan, I am still at a loss to understand why nobody sanctions and arrests the rebels. What is Sudan and the ICC doing about such criminals? Not a lot.  What are the general public saying about the billions of tax dollars that the rebels are costing in aid and peacekeeping, not to mention stolen vehicles, loss of lives, etc., ? Nothing. Not a murmur can I find anywhere in the press or blogosphere. What's the matter with people? Bah. Fume.

UNAMID Cost: 1 July 2008-30 June 2009: $1.6 billion

UNMIS Cost: 1 July 2008-30 June 2009: $858.77 million

How many more years will this go on for?  Think about the costs involved, year on year, for five years to date.  Imagine how many fresh drinking water pumps, school materials, football pitches and sports equipment could be purchased for those vast sums of money generated from ordinary everyday taxpayers around the world. I say, enough is enough. Please someone tell those rebels to make peace, get lost or put them in jail, NOW.  Pronto.  No pussyfooting.  

From Sudan Radio Service, Tuesday, 14 July 2009:
JEM Threatens to Leave Doha Talks

(Cairo) – The Darfur anti-government group, the Justice and Equality Movement, has threatened that they will leave the Doha talks if the mediators decide to include other factions in the negotiations.

JEM senior negotiator Ahmed Mohamed Tugod told Sudan Radio Service on Tuesday from Cairo that the Government of National Unity should negotiate only with JEM.

[Ahmed Tugod:”Our position has not changed. JEM will not negotiate unless we are by ourselves. If the mediators and the host country or other parties want to include other individuals to be part of the peace talks, alleging that they are Darfur anti-government groups, JEM will not participate in such chaotic talks whose outcome is known in advance. This will never lead to peace in Darfur. Our stance is clear regarding the talks in Doha, if any other party apart from JEM joins the negotiating table, we will not be part of those talks and we will withdraw from the negotiations immediately. We have been fighting the government, we fought with it in Darfur, in Omdurman, and still we have other options, the government knows very well that there is no other group in Darfur that could threaten it, apart from JEM.”

The Egyptian government is organizing a series of meetings in Cairo, which began on Sunday, in an attempt to encourage the Darfur anti-government groups to take a unified approach to the crisis prior to peace negotiations.