No February talks between Sudan, Darfur rebels-AU

KHARTOUM, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups to end the conflict in the region will not resume at the end of February, an African Union spokesman said on Sunday.

Displaced women stand in the Zam Zam refugee camp.

The AU spokesman said both sides still needed more time. Rebels have said they had not been told of the date and needed more time to prepare.

“The next round of peace talks will not resume in February as expected because the consultations are still going on,” Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the AU delegation in Khartoum told Reuters.

The AU team is there to hold consultations with Sudan on resuming the talks. The team will then travel to Kenya and Eritrea to meet representatives from Darfur’s main rebel groups.

The mediation team said it would then prepare a “draft framework protocol” on ending the violence.

After years of tribal conflict over scarce resources in the arid region in western Sudan, rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands and forced almost 2 million people from their homes.