Darfur peace talks resume Friday in Abuja amidst fresh violence

LAGOS, June 9 (AFP) — African Union-mediated talks to resolve the crisis in Sudan’s western region of Darfur are scheduled to open Friday in the Nigerian capital Abuja amidst a fresh outbreak of violence, notably between the main rebel groups.

Sudan’s Liberation Army rebels patrol in their base at an undisclosed location in North Darfur, Sudan. (AFP).

According to the AU mission in Darfur, violent clashes between the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) last week claimed 11 lives while 17 others were injured.

The troubled Darfur region has since February 2003 been a theatre of civil war between these rebel groups and government troops, supported by Arab militias.

A ceasefire reached in April 2004 has remained unrespected by parties in the conflict.

In two years, estimates put the death toll in the clashes at between180,000 and 300,000 while more than 2.4 million people have been displaced.

Therefore, the talks in Abuja are resuming Friday under a tense atmosphere in the camps of all the parties in the conflict, divisions in the ranks of the rebellions making it difficult to clinch an accord of security of civilians, the main point over which the last roundtable in Abuja was deadlocked last December, after several days of consultations and pressure from the mediators.

The SLM has admitted that the two rebel groups are contesting military power at the approach of the Abuja talks to which it has confirmed its participation.

The JEM on the other hand said that the two groups would attempt to present a common front against the government in Khartoum, in spite of their “deep-rooted differences”.

Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir has expressed the hope that “these discussions would lead to a peaceful and political settlement that would bring peace and stability,” and prayed that the Abuja meeting “would be the last.”

The negotiations, initiated by the AU and Chad, had begun last August, but were suspended several times without substantial results.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, current AU chairman, is personally involved in the resolution of the Sudanese crisis, and Wednesday, his spokeswoman, Oluremi Oyo, told AFP that his “expectation is that this will be the last round of the negotiations, towards a comprehensive solution of the Darfur crisis that will lead to a unified Sudan, peaceful and secured.”

“The president is upbeat. He is optimistic, he has put a lot of efforts into this and he knows that the contestants (parties) over the Darfur crisis are very keen on getting this resolved in the best way,” she said.

“He is also believing that the international community will also assist the Sudanese people and ensure that these talks go on without interference,” she added.

The AU has deployed to Darfur a protection force for observers of the ceasefire comprising 2,700 Nigerian and Rwandan troops. The force is expected to reach 7,700 men in September.

A high AU delegation visited Darfur at the weekend to assess humanitarian needs, after which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the region and called on the inbternational community to find a rapid solution to the Darfur crisis.

These crises have variously been described by different officials as “genocide” or the “gravest humanitarian crisis in the world”.

American deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick, who visited Darfur last Friday, declared that Khartoum should disarm all Arab militias accused of human rights violations in the region.

These pro-government militias — named Janjaweed — accused of murder, rape and pillage, support the regular army against the rebel groups who are demanding larger autonomy for the black African populations in Darfur

Also, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, the premier international permanent tribunal charged with dealing with war crimes, has opened an inquiry into the crimes committed in Darfur following a submission at the initiative of the UN Security Council which forwarded a list of 51 persons accused of war crimes in Darfur