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| Africa Horn |
| Darfur rebel leader says no truce for talks |
| 2007-09-26 |
| Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim said on Tuesday he would carry on fighting during upcoming peace talks until a final settlement is reached to end the conflict in western Sudan. Ibrahim, head of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), also said he was dismissing his deputy, Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, accusing him of secret meetings with the government to undermine the movement. “We will not cease fire before we reach a political settlement,” Ibrahim told Reuters from Darfur. “Ceasing fire is a termination of the resistance and revolution,” he added. Meanwhile, a report said Egypt would send more than 2,100 personnel to join a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Darfur region of Sudan. The Egyptian soldiers would be part of a 26,000-strong joint UN and African Union force due to be deployed in Darfur to end more than four and a half years of conflict there. Sudan says the joint force should be mostly African and has turned down infantry from Thailand and Uruguay, UN officials say. But Khartoum has promised to allow non-African units for specialised tasks. Egypt has contributed to a smaller African Union force that has been in Darfur for years but has failed to quell the violence. |
| Posted by:Fred |