Negotiations on peace in Darfur must be completed before presidential elections can be held in Sudan. Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), is committed to reaching a peace agreement with the Sudan government, but that peace can only be lasting if political power is shared equally, says JEM spokesman Al Faqi in an interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

JEM signed a ceasefire agreement with the government of Sudan on Tuesday - first step in a peace process that should be finalised by 15 March. JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir were at the ceremony along with mediators Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno - whose countries facilitated the talks between the two parties. Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki was also present.

The framework drafted on Saturday says that the government of Sudan will 'fairly compensate refugees, the displaced and all victims of the Darfur conflict.' The conflict has claimed about 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million people, according to UN figures. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.

Power sharing role
The deal offers JEM a power-sharing role in Sudan where presidential and legislative polls are to be held in April for the first time in 24 years. But other initial steps are to be taken before power sharing can be made effective.

Release of prisoners
Dr Al-Faqi, Speaker of the legislative assembly of JEM, says the provisional agreement is based, first of all, on the announcement of a ceasefire. The second issue is the release of those who have been prisoners, who have been sentenced to death and those who have been in any connection with JEM operations during the past, being civilians or military.

Prisoners freed
A day after the signing of the ceasefire, Sudan released 57 members of the JEM movement. "We have just freed 50 percent of those detained" in connection with a rebel attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman in May 2008, Bashir said during a speech in El-Fasher, the capital of Northern Darfur state.

Elections to wait
For JEM, a genuine commitment to examine and accept the conditions of the peace agreement, is paramount says Al-Faqi: "We are the ones who offer the ceasefire and we are the ones who are actually fighting the Sudan government. We offer the ceasefire not on condition of weakness, we do that on condition of power, and this power is being understood by the Sudan government."

No secret deals
Al-Faqi is adamant that the peace negotiations must be completed before the upcoming presidential elections to avoid the agreement being used as a propaganda tactic to secure al-Bashir's presidency. JEM, he says, is committed to peace:

"We are not doing any secret deals behind any scene, we are very genuine in this process. What we want is genuineness from the other side. If they are planning to make it as propaganda for the elections, the Sudan government is playing it wrong. JEM has not accepted and will not accept the elections to be held under these conditions."

Resisting negotiations
Other rebel groups, such as the faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) led by France-based exile Abdelwahid Nur, have rejected the negotiations and refuse to enter talks with the government: 'We must first guarantee the security of the population, disarm the pro-government Janjaweed rebels, end the genocide, and then we can speak of a conflict resolution', said Nur.

But Al-Faqi disagrees: "[These are] the same issues that everybody has been calling for - regarding the power sharing, the wealth sharing ... the compensation, the security arrangements. So just to reject something without looking at its details, that is absurd", says Al-Faqi.

"Abdelwahid Nur has always been saying that security should be arranged first and that all those issues should be done before he goes into negotiations. God knows how anybody ever negotiates with somebody when all the issues have been sorted out. This is not the reality of life. Nor is his approach conducive to peace in Sudan."

Comprehensive peace
The framework accord is not a guarantee for peace in Sudan", says international legal expert Christa Meindersma at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. "It is signed between two parties and excludes important rebel factions, including the Sudan Liberation Army. The Darfur Peace Agreement which was signed in 2006 between the government Bashir and a faction of the SLA suffered the same defect and failed. What Sudan needs is a comprehensive peace, binding all warring parties to an agreement, instead of separate deals with individual rebel groups resulting in government positions for their leaders."