Darfur Rebels Threaten New Action Against Sudan Government | Voice of America - English
   One of the main rebel groups in Sudan?s volatile Darfur region ? the Joint Equality Movement, or Jem ? is appealing for ?substantive? peace talks with the government of Sudan. The Jem and international human rights groups accuse the Khartoum government of killing thousands of people in Darfur in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. President Omar al-Bashir?s administration denies the allegations, and blames the violence on ?intertribal? battles over scarce resources, and on rebel militias themselves.
El-Faki says it?s up to theal-Bashir administration to avoid further bloodshed. ?We are going back (to war). Weare going to attack, and remove this regime. The only thing that will stop usis if they were to sit peacefully and discuss the way forward. Our aim is for apeaceful settlement. But if the Sudan government is adamant that it wants tosettle this militarily?. Jem is ready to go back and (overthrow) thegovernment,? he told VOA from an undisclosed location. Sudan?s Minister forInternational Cooperation, Dr. Eltigani Salih Fidail, described Jem?s ?movestoward war? as ?very irresponsible? and pointed to El-Faki?s statements as?more evidence that the rebels are dedicated to violence, and not peace.? Khartoum, as well as severalindependent analysts, has said that in threatening to attack the Sudanesecapital, the rebel groups are in effect pressuring the government to ?pay themoff? with large sums of money, in order to avoid further problems for thestate. But El-Faki denied that Jemleaders would accept money in exchange for halting their insurrection.