| "Nope. Ain't gonna do it, and you can't make us!" |
A Darfur rebel group will not return to African Union-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja and is rejecting the pan-African body as mediator to end the 22-month-old conflict in Sudan's remote west. The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim, told Reuters on Thursday it would only accept the United Nations as lead mediator in any peace talks and wanted UN troops stationed in Darfur. He said the African Union had failed to hold the Sudanese government to account. "JEM is rejecting the African Union. We are not going again to Abuja again under the auspices of the African Union," he said. JEM is one of two main rebel groups who were in faltering talks in Abuja to find a political solution to the conflict. |