Darfur rebels deny press reports about a peace accord

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), strongly contradict Sudanese press reports about an upcoming peace agreement between the government and the two rebel movements. They described the reports as “mere lies”.

Newspapers in Khartoum quoted Siddig Wada, chairman of the Sudanese Darfur Contact Committee as saying that he, by telephone, had successfully convinced JEM leader Jibril Ibrahim and Minni Minawi to reach a peace agreement with the government. Wadaa refused to disclose the details of what had been discussed.

“No such telephone conversation with Wadaa or any other government official ever occurred,” Jibril Adam Bilal, the spokesman for the JEM, stressed to Dabanga. He called the press reports “unfounded fabrications”.

Abdallah Mursal, the spokesman for the SLM-MM, appealed in a press statement to the “allies of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, an alliance of the main rebel movements, RD) to disregard such rubbish fabricated by the regime”.