Darfur rebels challenge Khartoum to talks or war

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, May 18 (Reuters) - Khartoum must sit down to Darfur peace talks by the end of the year or face all-out war, the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who launched an unprecedented attack on the capital this month said.

In an interview on Sunday, Khalil Ibrahim, who has a $250,000 price on his head after the attack on Khartoum, in which more than 200 people were killed, also urged Egypt to release three JEM officials it arrested in Cairo afterwards.

"Within this year, we have to end the suffering of our people of Darfur either by war or by negotiating a political solution," he told Reuters by satellite telephone.

"Whichever the government accepts we will do."

The rebels were only stopped at the bridges over the Nile to the heart of Khartoum from the western suburb of Omdurman, a few kilometres from the army headquarters and the presidential palace on May 10.

It was the first time rebels from Sudan's marginalised regions managed to bring their war to the capital.

The attack was condemned internationally and by most political parties inside the country.

"There will be no peace in Khartoum without peace in the marginalised regions, in Darfur," Ibrahim said, warning he would attack the capital again if the government chose war instead of talks.