From the Bush to a Chandeliered Hotel, a Rebel Takes Talks in Stride

Arab tribal fighters known as Janjaweed have razed hundreds of Darfur villages and killed or driven off their inhabitants. The government is accused of directly and indirectly funneling military aid to the Janjaweed, an allegation it denies.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]

The rebels increasingly are coming under criticism for prolonging the conflict. The original three rebel movements have splintered into more than a dozen, and are turning to brigandage and fighting among themselves, international envoys say. Rebels have attacked civilians, and a rebel bloc is accused of killing 10 African Union peacekeepers last month, international groups say.

A 2006 accord brokered in Abuja, Nigeria, failed in part because some rebel blocs said they were not represented in the talks.

All major rebel leaders boycotted this weekend's talks in Libya, dooming the opening round even before it began. Jan Eliasson, the U.N. envoy for Darfur, said Sunday that major negotiations probably would be put on hold until key rebel leaders joined.

"It's hard to think of a liberation movement that has been more disorganized and less able to pursue" a political agenda that serves "the interests of its people," said Alex de Waal, a Sudan scholar and expert on Darfur.

Sudanese government officials at the talks tried not to gloat about the poor showing by their rivals.

"This is the real problem," Al-Sammani al-Wasila, Sudanese state minister for foreign affairs, said Saturday in Sirte. "These factions are splintering every way."

Dosa said that the destruction of Darfur's economy and agriculture has meant that rebels must steal just to stay alive. Rebels raid Sudanese military camps simply to loot rations, arms and Land Cruisers, he said. "Sometimes two, three of us die" skirmishing to get food, he said.

Rebels sell some stolen vehicles and weapons to pay for extras such as the flights to N'Djamena and the suits for peace talks, he said.

In terms of arms, "now we have everything," Dosa said, smiling. "Everything but airplanes."

Fighting, with the loot it brings, has grown into a career as much as a cause for some Darfur rebels, another rebel, Osama Mohammed, said in Cairo this year. "Without jobs, they have no choice," Mohammed said, adding that he ran guns and money for his rebel movement in Darfur before going into exile in Egypt.

The conflict became entrenched even though international efforts to stop the fighting began early. By 2004, rebel leaders in the bush had pens from the Hotel Ritz in Paris sticking out of the pockets of their fatigues, souvenirs of a peace junket. One prominent rebel leader now lives in Paris.

At this weekend's talks in Libya, rebel negotiator Tadjadine Bechir Niam waved a copy of the 2006 peace accord.

Niam, a member of a splinter faction of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, attended his first round of Darfur peace talks in 2003, he said.

How many Darfur talks had he logged in all? "Seven -- this will be number eight," Niam said, noting a look at his suit, which unlike Dosa's was neatly tailored.

"Don't go by this," Niam said. "After this, I go back to the bush."