The African Union has proposed informal talks between the Sudanese government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), according to JEM leader Jibril Ibrahim.

In mid-December, the Khartoum government and the SPLA-N rebel group held unofficial talks through small delegations from the two sides, a similar format to what is now proposed for the JEM talks.

In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Jibril said that the proposed talks should be held in the AU headquarters for them to participate. He added that the meeting also should be arranged by the African Union.

The rebel leader stressed the need to hold serious talks in an attempt to reach the desired outcomes. He pointed out that informal talks are not useful.

Separately, Jibril said a group within in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) is now trying to initiate reconciliation among members of the coalition, which recently experienced a split over the leadership, which is claimed by both the SPLM-N chairman and the JEM chairman.

“Attempts are ongoing to reconcile the members of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, we hope it would succeed,” he said. “But if the situation continues as such, now there are two groups of the SRF, so we can represent the two groups in any meeting, and we can coordinate the positions,” he added.

SRF is a coalition of Darfur rebel groups and the SPLM-N, which controls parts of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. JEM, one of the coalition members, is a group that originated in Darfur but has carried out operations also in South and North Kordofan and elsewhere.

Differences occurred when the head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Jibril Ibrahim took over the chairmanship of the Sudan Revolutionary Front from SPLM-N chairman Malik Agar after a contentious leadership meeting in October last year.