Darfur rebel group calls for Annan mediation with Khartoum

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

KHARTOUM (AFP) — A rebel leader in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur on Sunday called for one-on-one peace talks with the Khartoum government under the mediation of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

"We are calling for JEM-government peace talks one to one... Because in reality there are no movements on the ground except JEM," Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, told AFP by telephone.

The group has refused to take part in African Union- and UN-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending five years of violence in Darfur where international groups say 200,000 people have died and 2.2 million been displaced.

Ibrahim said his movement was calling for "corrections inside the AU-UN mediation" that has so far failed to make...