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Darfur rebel head warns of split | Darfur rebel head warns of split |
(1 day later) | |
Jem's leader warns if peace talks fail, his rebels want independence | |
By Orla Guerin BBC News, Darfur | |
The Justice and Equality movement (Jem) is one of the main rebel groups in Darfur. | |
Its leader, Khalil Ibrahim, told me that if next month's peace talks fail, the rebels want a country of their own. That's a new demand. | |
"The next step is Darfur will ask not only for self-determination," he said, "but clearly we want separation. We want our own country. | |
"If there is no solution, no peace, then why we live together. This is very clear message. If we are not equal, we cannot stay in one country." | |
Speaking in the rebel stronghold of Haskanita, surrounded by heavily armed fighters, the Jem leader said he believed the Sudanese government was at a critical point and looking for a way out of the conflict - but at minimum cost. | |
He said there could be no peace without self-rule for the people of Darfur, adding that the government would have to share Sudan's wealth, rebuild destroyed villages and compensate the displaced. | He said there could be no peace without self-rule for the people of Darfur, adding that the government would have to share Sudan's wealth, rebuild destroyed villages and compensate the displaced. |
Jem has been fighting hard against the government and it has been fighting back, bombing Haskanita twice in recent days. | |
Rebels are keen to show the craters left by the government bombing and the crude metal littering the ground. | |
"This is one product of a factory in Khartoum," a Jem commander said, clutching shards of metal, "and this product is for killing the people of Darfur". | |
What chance peace? | |
The latest attack on Haskanita has been condemned as "brutal" by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. | |
There are fears that more fighting here could derail the planned peace talks, before they even start. | |
Even if the talks go ahead, the Darfur rebels may not be speaking with one voice when they get to Libya. | |
The AU fears Darfur's rebels could pose problems for peacekeepers | |
There were about a dozen rebel groups at last count, all trying to call the shots. | |
One United Nations official said "it feels like there's a new rebel movement every morning when I wake up". | |
Some in the African Union mission believe the rebels will be the key problem for the new peacekeeping troops when they begin arriving here next month. | |
The AU has had almost 200 rebels on the payroll, employed as 'military observers', some getting as much as $4,000 a month. | |
A senior AU military official admits paying the rebels was a mistake. | |
He says they may have used some of the money to buy weapons, which could be turned against foreign troops. | |
The payments have been reduced in recent months, but since then the rebels have 'gone on strike' refusing to ensure safe passage for AU patrols in areas they control. | |
That has left the AU observers confined to base in some areas. | |
The payouts will stop completely when the peacekeepers come in, increasing the disgruntlement in rebel ranks. | |
General Agwai has Africa's toughest job as Darfur commander | |
The official expects the fighters to be an obstruction and says they can instigate trouble. | |
Members of one faction of one rebel group stole 13 AU vehicles in July, and returned four - destroyed. | |
The official is worried about possible attacks on the peacekeepers if there's no breakthrough at peace talks. | |
He believes the rebels are capable of anything. | |
"They have no respect for their own leadership," he says. "Nothing is beyond them." |
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