Darfur rebels accused Sudanese government forces on Wednesday of advancing towards their positions and undermining peace talks that began in Qatar a day earlier.
Ahmed Hussein Adam, a spokesperson for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the main Darfur rebel factions, said the group was not pulling out of talks for now.
”We are studying the situation closely. We have contacted the mediators. We will see what takes place in the coming hours,” he said by telephone, adding that the Sudanese forces were advancing in the east Jebel Mara area.
There was no immediate comment from the army.
The talks in Qatar are the first since 2007 between the government and JEM, which launched an unprecedented attack on Khartoum last year and has been involved in a recent upsurge of fighting.
Other factions have said the talks in Qatar will fail because they are not all included.
Tension has been growing in Darfur as it awaits a decision by International Criminal Court judges on whether to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur.
International experts say 200 000 people have died and 2,7-million been driven from their homes since rebels took up arms against Khartoum in 2003, accusing it of neglecting the development of the region. — Reuters