Sudan signs ceasefire with Darfur JEM rebels

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan agreed a ceasefire with  Darfur’s most powerful rebel group yesterday as part of an  agreement to “heal” the war in the western region, Sudanese  President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said.

The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said the  framework agreement reached in the Chadian capital N’Djamena was  not a final peace deal but set out the terms for negotiations  that could still fail if it saw signs of bad faith from  Khartoum.

Bashir said he would cancel death sentences handed out to  JEM prisoners and free 30 per cent of them immediately. More than  100 men were sentenced to death by hanging after being found  guilty of taking part in a JEM attack on Khartoum in 2008.

Bashir told state television: “Today we signed an agreement  between the government and JEM in N’Djamena, and in N’Djamena we  heal the war in Darfur.”

Khartoum has agreed to a series of ceasefires during the  seven-year conflict, but some have fallen apart days after their  signing, and distrust between the warring parties remains deep.

Talks between JEM and Khartoum, hosted in Qatar, have been  stalled for months. But there has been a flurry of activity in  recent days against a background of thawing relations between  Sudan and Chad, which borders Darfur.

Sudan and Chad, both preparing for elections, agreed earlier  this month to end their long-running proxy war, fought by arming  each other’s rebels. Chadian President Idriss Deby has ethnic  links with JEM’s leaders and has been accused of backing JEM.

JEM officials said the “framework” agreement would include a  list of areas to be fleshed out in negotiations, including  compensation for Darfuris, humanitarian access and the broad  topics of “power sharing” and “wealth sharing”.

“This is not the end. It is the beginning of the end,”  senior JEM official Al-Tahir al-Feki told Reuters.

JEM officials said yesterday’s deal would be formally  ratified by Sudan’s president and JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim in  the Qatari capital Doha early next week.

Before the deal was signed, JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam  said the ceasefire would be temporary and dependent on  Khartoum’s behaviour.

“We will not play their game if they are only interested in  buying time, in tactics, in just signing papers to make it  easier for them in the elections,” he said. “The vicious circle  can begin again and we can resume our armed struggle.”

Sudan holds presidential and legislative elections in April,  its first multi-party contests in 24 years.

Sudanese presidential advisor Ghazi Salaheddin, who reached  the deal in Chad, told reporters on his return to Khartoum he  was ready to sign similar agreements with other rebel groups.

JEM and Darfur’s rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) took up  arms against the government in 2003, accusing Khartoum of  leaving their region marginalised and underdeveloped.

SLA founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, with strong support  among the region’s displaced population, is refusing to talk to  Khartoum, demanding an end to violence before negotiations.
The United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in  Darfur’s crisis, but Sudan rejects that figure. The  International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest  warrant against Bashir last year to face charges of war crimes  and crimes against humanity in the region.