DARFUR:Abdel Wahid el-Nur, known as 'Mr No', insists security must come before talks, writes Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
THE MAN who could hold the key to peace in Darfur stands furiously texting on his mobile phone in a square in Paris's 15th arrondissement. A few steps away, his companion, a young Sudanese man, keeps lookout.
Later, in a quiet corner of a nearby cafe, Abdel Wahid el-Nur orders a Perrier before launching into a tirade against the "outlaw" regime in Khartoum, banging his fist on the zinc table for extra emphasis. Some time later he is rolling up the sleeves of his grey pin-striped suit to show the puckered scars of old bullet wounds.
The French capital has been a home of sorts for el-Nur for the past 14 months. One of the founders of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), the oldest rebel grouping in Darfur, el-Nur now leads his own faction of the SLM after it split along tribal lines in 2005.
The portly 40-year-old lawyer brushes off the suggestion that exile in Paris may distance him from the situation on the ground in Darfur.
"The world has become like a little village. It is very easy to stay in contact," he shrugs. "I can be with my people by phone, by e-mail, by taped messages. It is no different to being in my headquarters in Darfur."
Being in Paris also makes it easier for el-Nur to receive the steady stream of international figures who have pleaded with him to sit down to UN-brokered talks with the Sudanese government. But to everyone - from French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner to assorted envoys from the UN, Britain and the US - el-Nur gives the same answer.
"My position is very clear. I will not negotiate until we have security first," he says, his voice rising. "The security of my people is not a matter for negotiation.
"We want peace, not a peace on paper but a real peace which starts with the security of the people on the ground."
The conflict in Darfur erupted in early 2003 when rebels took up arms against the Khartoum government, accusing it of marginalising the western regions of Sudan. Since then fighting between rebels, government forces and allied militia groups known as Janjaweed has forced more than 2.2 million from their homes.
The Sudanese government has bombed rebel-held villages and mobilised the Janjaweed in a scorched earth campaign. More than 200,000 people have died, most of these as a result of starvation and disease.
Efforts to end the conflict have been stymied so far by several factors including tribal tensions, fragmented rebel demands, animosity between Sudan and Chad, and a piecemeal approach by the international community.
Observers say that while el-Nur no longer commands large numbers of rebels, he remains popular among the millions of displaced Darfuris sheltering in camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad. Because of this, his imprimatur is seen as crucial to any attempt to resolve the conflict.
The SLM leader refused to sign the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement and boycotted peace talks in Libya last year.
El-Nur's refusal to attend negotiations with Khartoum has infuriated international mediators who insist security cannot be achieved without talks.
Last year Bernard Kouchner said he had told el-Nur "10,000 times" that he risked being politically marginalised if he did not sign up to negotiations.
El-Nur's intransigence has earned him the nickname "Mr No", a sobriquet he sometimes appears to revel in.
He recalls meeting former Irish president Mary Robinson: "I told her that we need security first. She told me that she respects my ideas very much but she wants me to go to the table to negotiate before that."
Instead of immediate talks, el-Nur suggests an alternative approach. "We need conflict suspension to stop the killings and rape, completely disarm the Janjaweed and allow displaced people return to their villages. All this will create a conducive environment in which we can engage in negotiations to address the root causes of the problem."
Last month, at the request of the French foreign minister, el-Nur met with UN and African Union mediators in Geneva, a move France portrayed as an apparent first step towards the SLM leader attending talks with Khartoum.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Bernard Kouchner said all participants agreed on the need to strengthen security on the ground, particularly through the deployment of the 26,000-strong UN/African Union hybrid force.
Prior to this, France was reportedly considering expelling el-Nur - who lives in Paris on a renewable three-month visa, having refused an offer of asylum - for failing to attend talks.
He denies this, but goes on to defiantly warn that pressure of any kind will not work.
"I don't think you can put any more pressure on us than the fact our people are being killed, raped and driven from their homes. We are not here to please people, we are here to keep our people alive."
He welcomes the EU mission to eastern Chad, which has a UN mandate to protect civilians, including Dafuri refugees.
"It is my hope that after these troops ensure stability in Chad, the next step will be stability for Darfur and Sudan. These troops are a lifeline for civilians in the region."
But he warns the mission's 12-month mandate is not enough. "One year is nothing. In fact they will stay for many years and the number of troops will be increased. This is what it will take to bring real stability."
El-Nur is upfront about the fact that his ambitions extend far beyond a solution to the Darfur conflict. The SLM vision, he says, is one of a "secular, democratic, united" Sudan.
And that includes himself as president.
"Why not? I am fighting for that kind of Sudan. I, Abdel Wahid el-Nur, have a right to have ambitions to be president."
It is a statement that jars somewhat with el-Nur's insistence that he is not in it for his own ends.
He concludes with a warning that a resolution to the conflict could remain elusive for some time yet. "For sure, there will not be peace in Darfur or Sudan without my signature."