Chad denies breakdown in Darfur peace process

The Chadian government has denied any serious breakdown in the peace talks aimed at resolving the 14-month-old crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. A spokesman for the Chadian government’s mediation team, Ahmad Allammi, told IRIN on Tuesday that weekend talks between the Sudanese government and two Sudanese rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) had not failed. Allammi said the discussions, which took place in the Chadian capital, N’djamena, had been part of a “preparatory phase”, enabling participants to determine the agenda for peace talks which will resume in due course. Allammi said the weekend talks had ended in agreement, amongst other things, on the creation of a "mixed preparatory committee" to determine the agenda, date and venue of a later peace conference. Chad is leading the mediation initiative on Darfur, backed by representatives of the African Union. A previous round of talks in N’djamena in April secured a cease-fire between the warring parties, who also agreed to allow humanitarian aid into the Darfur region. However, each side has since accused the other of violating that cease-fire. Government and rebels have fought in Darfur, Sudan's western region that borders Chad, since February 2003. Rebels claim to be fighting for greater political and economic rights for the region. Last month, the United Nations dubbed it the "world's worst humanitarian crisis". One million people are internally displaced, while another 110,000 have become refugees in eastern Chad. The Sudanese government has been accused of "ethnic cleansing" by international rights groups. All sides in the conflict have been accused of killing civilians, engaging in rape, looting and the burning of villages. On Monday, the Reuters news agency reported that JEM rebels wanted the conference's venue to be moved away from N'djamena because Chad was biased towards the government of Khartoum. The agency also quoted a western diplomat who assisted in earlier cease-fire talks as acknowledging "there was a general consensus among the internationals present that there was a definite Chadian bias towards the Sudanese government." Allammi dismissed such accusations. He said all sides have made accusations of bias. He also questioned the authenticity of such a statement, accusing "outside forces of wanting to torpedo peace efforts." "We [the Chadian mediation] are in contact with the rebels, we discuss with them," Allammi said. However, Allammi conceded that it would be preferable if the peace talks were taking place in Sudan and not Chad. "Chad is not hooked on the idea of hosting the conference, it would be best if they hosted it in Sudan," the spokesman said. No date has yet has been set for the promised resumption of talks. The SLA and JEM were unavailable for comment on the matter.