Nigeria confirms Darfur talks switched back to Abuja

ABUJA, Oct 18 (AFP) — The next round of African Union peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Darfur region’s rebel groups will start Thursday in Abuja, the AU’s Nigerian chairmanship confirmed on Monday.

The decision marks a turnaround since Friday last week, when Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s office announced that the conference would be shifted to the Libyan capital Tripoli.

On Monday, Obasanjo’s spokeswoman Remi Oyo told AFP that the talks would return to Abuja. The first session ran between August 23 and September 18 in the Nigerian capital, but broke up without substantive progress.