Arab League suspends contact with Darfur rebel group

May 22, 2008, 12:42 GMT

Cairo - The Arab League said Thursday it would suspend its contact with the Darfur rebel group of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) over the group's involvement in an attack on the Sudanese capital Khartoum earlier this month.

Rebels from JEM attacked Omdurman, a suburb in western Khartoum, on May 10, leaving more than 200 people dead.

'JEM tried to widen the conflict outside Darfur, which would add to the suffering of the Sudanese people. The international community and the Arab League refuse this,' an Arab League official, Samir Hosny, told reporters.

The movement has emerged as a loser after the attack as many sides in the international community call for excluding it from the Darfur peace talks, the official said.

The movement along with the larger Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) are the two main rebel groups fighting in Sudan's Darfur region.

The conflict in Sudan's western province was sparked off when the Sudanese government sided with Arab nomads after a devastating famine in 1987 against the province's African farming communities.

Both movements, JEM and SLA, have been leading the fight against the government and the Arab militia, the Janjaweed.

Rounds of peace talks were held under United Nations auspices to resolve the conflict.

In an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat published Thursday, JEM leader, Khalil Ibrahim, said he chose to stay in Omdurman for 72 hours after the attack rather than go into hiding.

'It was members of the (Sudanese) regime who went into special hiding places underground,' Ibrahim said.

The main grievance of Darfur rebel leaders is that the Arab population of Sudan has a disproportionate representation at the top levels of government.

Ibrahim said the attack on Omdurman achieved its goals but the peace option was still open.

'We have taken the decision (to launch the attack) late last year to end the suffering of our people in Darfur. This would be either through peaceful means or war with the aim of unseating the regime,' Ibrahim said.

The rebel leader threatened to launch more assaults in Khartoum.

'We will never again wage the war in Darfur. We have reached Khartoum and we will wage it (a war) there if the regime does not make a real peace,' Ibrahim said.