Darfur rebels hope new mediator can kickstart talks

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Sudanese rebels hope thenew international mediator for Darfur has the power to wringconcessions from the Khartoum government to kickstart a stalledpeace process and help end suffering on the ground.

Speaking to Reuters at the weekend, officials from the mainrebel factions in the five-year-old conflict bemoaned the lackof progress under previous mediators. They said they werecrossing their fingers that Burkina Faso Foreign MinisterDjibril Bassolet could make a difference.

"He has to be serious and have experience in political andmilitary matters," said al-Sayyid Sherif, a member of the largeSLA Unity faction's Revolutionary Council.

"He needs to be able to pressure the government side and becourageous," he told Reuters by telephone.

Sherif and other rebel leaders criticised previous UnitedNations and African Union mediators, saying they had rarelymade contact with the rebel groups and had failed to push themand the government to the negotiating table to end the fightingwhich international experts say has claimed 200,000 lives.

Minni Arcua Minnawi, the only rebel leader to sign a peacedeal with Khartoum, on Sunday urged African leaders meeting inthe Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to promote peacetalks with the remaining factions and end the bloodshed.

Speaking by telephone from Darfur, he said previous UnitedNations and African Union (AU) mediators had completely failed."I don't see any results on the ground," he said.

Diplomats at the U.N. said on Friday that Bassolet had beenchosen as the new joint U.N.-AU mediator for Darfur, but hisappointment must still be confirmed. They said Sudan'sPresident Omar Hassan al-Bashir could still object to thedecision.

INTERNATIONAL CLOUT

Some rebels voiced concern that Bassolet might not haveenough international clout to succeed.

"We would have preferred a Western mediator," said KhalilIbrahim, head of the most militarily powerful rebel group, theJustice and Equality Movement (JEM). JEM rebels attackedKhartoum last month, the first time rebels have brought theirbattle to the capital. They have since been repelled.

Suleiman Jamous, the Sudan Liberation Army's influentialhumanitarian coordinator, said Bassolet was not well known toDarfur's guerrillas, but the key issue was for theinternational community to play a decisive role.

"If he is active it's okay ... We don't care who is themediator to pull us to the negotiating table. Our onlycondition is that the international community be present," hesaid.

If confirmed, Bassolet will replace the dual negotiatingteam of Salim Ahmed Salim from the AU and his U.N. counterpartJan Eliasson.

The envoys have blamed stalled talks on continued fighting-- mostly between JEM and the government -- and rising tensionsbetween Sudan and neighbouring Chad, who accuse each other ofsupporting rebels trying to overthrow their governments.

The conflict, which affects some 4 million Darfuris, hasspawned the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation in the world.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusingcentral government of neglect. The International Criminal Courthas issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese government ministerand allied militia leader for war crimes but Khartoum refusesto hand them over.

(Editing by Caroline Drees)