Darfur rebel head warns of split
By Orla Guerin
BBC News, Darfur
The conflict in Darfur has brought misery to millions
The leader of one of the main rebel groups in Darfur says that if the peace talks fail, the rebels want their own separate country.
Peace talks are scheduled to take place next month in Libya.
Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) told the BBC that without equality the people of Darfur could not remain in Sudan.
The civil war in the western province of Sudan has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives after 2003.
The Darfur rebels do not speak with one voice. There are about a dozen factions all trying to call the shots.
The Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) is one of the main groups.
If there is no solution, no peace, then why we live together?
Khalil Ibrahim, Jem leader
Recently it has been fighting hard against the government, and if there is no peace deal with Khartoum Jem will making a new demand according to the group's leader, Khalil Ibrahim.
"The next step Darfur will ask for, not only for self-determination, but clearly we want separation and we want our own country," he said.
"If there is no solution, no peace, then why we live together?"
Speaking in the stronghold of Haskanita, surrounded by heavily armed fighters, the Jem leader said he believed the Sudanese government was looking for a way out of the conflict but at minimum cost.
He said there could be no peace without self-rule for the people of Darfur, adding that the government would have to share Sudan's wealth, rebuild destroyed villages and compensate the displaced.