Obasanjo meets Darfur rebel in bid to break peace talks stalemate

LAGOS, July 1 (AFP) — Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who also chairs the African Union, has met separately with the two rebel groups fighting the Sudanese government in a bid to break the deadlock in talks to end the Darfur crisis, the AU said.

Rebels from the Sudan Liberation Movement wait in their base in Gellab, North Darfur, Sudan, during a meeting with African Union officers, November 8, 2004 (AFP).

AU-mediated talks to end the 28-month-old civil war resumed in the Nigerian capital on June 10 after a six-month break but have made little progress.

The AU said Obasanjo first held consultations on Thursday with ther pan-Afriocan body’s special envoy on the Darfur crisis, Tanzania’s Salim Ahmed Salim.

“President Obasanjo then met separately with the representatives of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement(JEM),” it said.

The AU said the talks were “part of ongoing efforts to move forward the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur.”

Salim later chaired a meeting of the AU mediation team along with the facilitators, international partners and observers to consider a package of proposals on the outstanding issues in a key draft declaration of principles (DoP).

The AU said discussions would continue on the outstanding issues on the DoP to arrive at an acceptable document as soon as possible.

“… Salim has also , in the past few days, continued his intensive and wide ranging consultations,” it added.

The conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region has claimed between 180,000 and 300,000 lives, with some 2.4 million civilians displaced from their homes, while an additional 200,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad.

Nigeria said Thursday it had approved the deployment of more than 2,000 troops in three battalions for peacekeeping and peace enforcement duties in the region.

The first contingent of the troops, who will beef up a 3,320-strong AU force already in Darfur, was expected to leave Nigeria on Friday.