Chad asks rebels to negotiate

2004-07-07 20:07

Addis Ababa - Chad called on rebels in the western Darfur region of Sudan on Wednesday to attend talks planned for next week aimed at resolving the humanitarian crisis in the area.

"We are saying to the rebels that they must take part in the political negotiations," Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum said at the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa.

Talks are due to take place on July 15 in the Ethiopian capital.

The conflict in Darfur has created a serious humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 10 000 deaths, a million refugees who have fled their homes inside Sudan and another 120 000 who have sought refuge in Chad.

After the president of the AU commission Alpha Oumar Konare announced that talks would take place one of the rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said it would not take part because it had not been involved in the choice of the place and date.

Its military spokesperson Abdallah Abdel Kerim said: "These political negotiations are coming much too quickly because several points in the April 8 ceasefire agreement have not been respected, such as the creation of a humanitarian corridor or the disarming of the Janjaweed," the pro-government militia.

Yamassoum, whose country borders Darfur, said he held talks on Wednesday morning with the Sudanese authorities.

"We are doing everything to persuade Khartoum of the necessity of a dialogue" with the rebels and "for a dialogue the Janjweed militias must be disarmed," he said.

The situation in Darfur was discussed on Wednesday morning by African heads of state and government at a closed session at the summit.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told the opening session of the summit on Tuesday that "without action" by the international community "an even greater humanitarian catastrophe" could happen and "destabilise the region."

- AFP