Darfur talks resume, rebel camp disunited
Sept 15, 2005 (ABUJA) — African Union mediators urged the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels to work harder for peace as talks resumed in Nigeria on Thursday amid signs that disunity among rebels could hinder progress.
The sixth round of talks in over a year started with a plenary session in a luxury hotel in the Nigerian capital, but some rebel delegates had not arrived in time while others said they would not come or had been excluded.
The talks aim to end a conflict in the vast desert region in western Sudan that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven 2 million into refugee camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad. Fighting has subsided and aid flows have increased since last year, but the humanitarian crisis remains acute.
“While it is true that peace negotiations by their very nature are complicated and time consuming, the inter-Sudanese talks have been extremely difficult and at times seem to have been conducted with complete disregard to the imperative of the situation on the ground in Darfur,” Baba Gana Kingibe, a top African Union official, told the opening session.
Darfur rebels took up arms in early 2003 over what they saw as neglect and discrimination by the government, which responded by backing militias that attacked civilians and drove many from their villages, according to the rebels.
Five previous rounds have produced agreements on aid to the millions of refugees, but failed to end the conflict or allow displaced people to return home. African Union (AU) troops in Darfur have reported violations of a ceasefire, including in the days running up to the new round of talks.
Some members of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the larger rebel movement, arrived on Thursday and African Union mediators said the group’s chairman Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur was on his way from Eritrea, a two-day journey.
But the SLA’s other main leader and a rival of Nur, secretary-general Minni Arcua Minnawi, is not planning to come. His absence raises doubts about the value of any agreement given his influence over fighters in the field.
“Minni has refused to be here,” said Salih Adam Ishaq, an SLA commander from northern Darfur. “When I said I wanted to be here he sent some of his soldiers to tell me not to come.”
AU spokesman Moussa Hamani said Minnawi had sent a list of delegates who would represent him at the talks, adding that the reason given for Minnawi’s absence was that he wanted the SLA to hold a congress of its own before the talks.
Previous talks have been hampered by infighting in the SLA and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Adding to the confusion, a third rebel group that emerged last year said it would not accept any deal reached in Abuja.
These talks were postponed from August to give the rebels time to adopt common positions, but it appeared this has not happened.
A Nigerian official said the delegates would relocate to a more “serene atmosphere” near Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s private farm in Ota, southwest Nigeria, at some point during this round of talks to help things along.
(Reuters)