By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Khartoum must sit down to Darfur peacetalks by the end of the year or face all-out war, the leader ofthe rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who launched anunprecedented attack on the capital this month said.
In an interview on Sunday, Khalil Ibrahim, who has a$250,000 (128,000 pound) price on his head after the attack onKhartoum, in which more than 200 people were killed, also urgedEgypt to release three JEM officials it arrested in Cairoafterwards.
"Within this year, we have to end the suffering of ourpeople of Darfur either by war or by negotiating a politicalsolution," he told Reuters by satellite telephone.
"Whichever the government accepts we will do."
The rebels were only stopped at the bridges over the Nileto the heart of Khartoum from the western suburb of Omdurman, afew kilometres from the army headquarters and the presidentialpalace on May 10.
It was the first time rebels from Sudan's marginalisedregions managed to bring their war to the capital.
The attack was condemned internationally and by mostpolitical parties inside the country.
"There will be no peace in Khartoum without peace in themarginalised regions, in Darfur," Ibrahim said, warning hewould attack the capital again if the government chose warinstead of talks.
"We are people of one nation," he said. "Part of us cannotenjoy peace in Khartoum while others are dying. Either we areall at war or we are all at peace."
OIL MONEY
International experts estimate 200,000 have died in Darfur,with 2.5 million driven from their homes. Washington called theconflict genocide, a term European governments are reluctant touse, but which has sparked a massive U.S.-led activistmovement.
Khartoum blames the Western media for exaggerating theconflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.
Khartoum has boomed from a massive injection of foreigninvestment and rising oil revenues since signing a 2005north-south peace deal ending a separate conflict. That dealdid not cover Darfur. Analysts fear investors will think twiceabout pouring money into the capital with the threat of attack.
Sudan had asked world leaders to list JEM as a terroristmovement and extradite all members to Khartoum for trial.
Ibrahim urged Egypt to release three JEM officials theyarrested after the assault. "They are civilians not military."
Darfur's peace process has stalled under joint U.N. andAfrican Union mediation, appointed at the beginning of 2007.Ibrahim said the two envoys, Jan Eliasson and Salim AhmedSalim, should resign.
"These men should be changed and a serious mediation who isinterested to bring peace (should be appointed)," he said. "Theinternational community failed to find a solution ... so theyleft us no choice other than to go to war."
Ibrahim's JEM is an Islamist movement whereas otherfactions from Darfur's fractured rebels support secularism.They launched their revolt in early 2003 accusing centralgovernment of neglecting the remote west.
JEM's agenda has always been more national while othergroups want a fairer deal for Darfur. Analysts agree withKhartoum's assessment that JEM's newly acquired military powerwas provided by Chad. In the early part of the conflict, JEMwas militarily weaker than the other main Darfur rebel SudanLiberation Army (SLA).
Sudan cut diplomatic relations with Chad after the assault.Chad denies links to JEM.
