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Darfur rebels resume ceasefire talks with Sudan

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 20 December 2010 19:55 GMT

* JEM reopens talks in Qatar seven months after walking out

* United Nations and African Union mediating

* Talks initially focusing on ceasefire

KHARTOUM, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Darfur&${esc.hash}39;s rebel Justice and Equality Movement has restarted ceasefire talks with Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s government, seven months after it walked out of the tortuous peace process, mediators and rebels said on Monday.

JEM, seen as Darfur&${esc.hash}39;s most militarily powerful insurgent group, told Reuters it might consider a cessation of hostilities if Khartoum released political prisoners and made other commitments.

"We have not been having face-to-face meetings but we are exchanging proposals with the mediation ... We are not talking about a final agreement. Now we are discussing the issue of a cessation of hostilities," said JEM&${esc.hash}39;s London-based spokesman, Ahmed Hussein Adam.

The seven-year conflict in Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s remote western Darfur region has been punctuated by a string of broken ceasefires and failed negotiations.

High-profile campaigns by celebrity activists and diplomatic pressure from Washington have not succeeded in ending the violence, which has been complicated by a rise in kidnappings, tribal clashes and bandit attacks.

JEM suspended its participation in talks in the Qatari capital Doha in early May, saying Khartoum had broken an earlier ceasefire and objecting to its decision to hold talks with other insurgent groups.

Adam said JEM had returned to Doha after the joint U.N./African Union mediators promised to deal with some of their concerns about how the talks were held and hosted.

He said JEM also wanted assurances that Khartoum would protect civilians and give aid groups a freer rein in Darfur.

The mediators, headed by former Burkina Faso foreign minister Djibril Bassole, released a statement urging both JEM and the government to agree a ceasefire by the end of the year.

JEM was one of two rebel groups that took up arms against the government in 2003, accusing it of marginalising the region.

Darfur&${esc.hash}39;s rebel Sudan Liberation Army, loyal to Abdel Wahed al-Nur, is boycotting all negotiations.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding genocide and war crimes during a government campaign to crush the uprising. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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