The chairperson of the Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Khalil Mohammed, on Wednesday dismissed the ongoing Abuja peace talks on the conflict in Darfur as ”a waste of time, energy and resources of stakeholders.”
He said the peace talks would not achieve any meaningful result as they were ”merely going in circles.”
Mohammed said that if the African Union’s (AU) April deadline for peace in the region lapsed without success, ”the people of Darfur will be left with no choice other than to ask for self-determination”.
”There is no longer time for dialogue or negotiations. Negotiations cannot solve the problem of Darfur. It is time for all parties involved in the conflict to take sharp political decisions on the way forward,” he said.
Mohammed, however, expressed the hope that a peace agreement would be signed before the end of April.
He added that self-determination for Darfur was a last resort but warned that ”Darfur cannot continue in a state of no peace, no future and hopelessness”.
”If living in peace with the rest of Sudan is harmful and without benefit, the best thing for us is to seek our sovereignty,” he said, calling on all Darfur residents in the Sudanese government to resign and return home.
”If we do not get our own sovereignty, the only alternative is a forceful change of the government in Khartoum,” Mohammed threatened.
Mohammed expressed scepticism about the sincerity of Khartoum, saying ”its main aim is to frustrate the peace talks, eliminate the resistance in Darfur and crush the rebel movements”.
He also criticized the Sudanese government delegation, saying ”a more purposeful and a more serious delegation would fast-track the peace process.”
Mohammed claimed in addition that Khartoum was the only party largely guilty of ceasefire violations. A recent AU pronouncement stated that all parties to the conflict had been breaching the ceasefire agreement signed in the Chadian capital N’Djamena in April 2004. — Sapa-dpa