JEM rebels say they will resolve the Darfur issue either through negotiation or conflict [EPA]

Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality movement (JEM), told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the 22-member Arab League was preoccupied with the situation in Lebanon.
 
His comments came amid an increasing crisis in Sudan after clashes between the north and south in the oil-rich district of Abyei last month and an attack on the capital, Khartoum, by JEM.

Somalia is also facing continuing instability despite UN-brokered talks being held in Djibouti.
 
"Isn't Somalia a member of the Arab League?" Ibrahim said.

"What is the population of Beirut and Lebanon? There are more than 14 million people in Darfur and we have a problem. More than half a million people have been killed in Darfur. Where is the Arab League?"

The UN says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003.

The Sudanese government says that about 10,000 have been killed.

Jan Eliasson, the UN envoy to Darfur, has warned that the conflict in Darfur is deteriorating due to a breakdown in relations between Sudan and Chad after a rebel attack on the capital, Ndjamena, and the JEM assault on Khartoum.

Abyei crisis

Eliasson expressed his concern at last month's fighting between the north and the south which left the Abyei district devastated and up to 90,000 displaced.

"Since the end of last year, things have gone in the wrong direction," he said.
 
"If there is an escalation at this stage and at the same time the rainy season starts, we may enter a catastrophic situation."

A US envoy has been attempting to resolve the crisis but on Monday he said that talks with the National Congress party of Omar al-Bashir, the president, and the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement had proved fruitless.

"I have tried to help both of them think through what's in their interest and it's clearly in both of their interests to defuse this situation which continues to be explosive," Richard Williamson said.
 
"It's key to take steps so that the Abyei situation doesn't remain a powder keg where this type of violence and destruction can happen."

Sudanese government forces control the main town in the Abyei district after two bouts of heavy fighting ended on May 20.

Abyei, which sits on an estimated half a billion dollars of oil, was accorded a special status and was to be governed by a joint administration until twin referendums in 2011.

They will decide whether it remains part of the north or joins the south, as well as whether the south will secede.

The UN has warned that the violence could destroy the peace deal signed between the north and south in 2005 that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

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