Sudan’s Darfur talks under AU to resume mid-September

By Helen Nyambura

Aug 24, 2005 (Dar es salaam) — Sudan’s government and two Darfur rebel groups will hold a sixth round of talks next month to try and secure a peace deal for the vast region after more than two years of conflict, the African Union said on Wednesday.

AU-sponsored talks on ending the Darfur violence — which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 2 million from their homes since early 2003 — had originally been scheduled to re-start this week in Nigeria.

But they were were postponed after the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), one of the two rebel movements fighting the government in the western region, said they were not ready.

AU chief negotiator Salim Ahmed Salim told a news conference three days of low-level consultations with the three parties in Dar es Salaam had produced a new timetable.

“My conviction is that the parties to the conflict are determined to reach an agreement,” Salim said, flanked by offiicals from the SLM and the other main Darfur rebel group, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

“We have agreed on the timing. I want to announce formally that the next round of talks will be held in Abuja on Sept. 15,” he said. “The issues to be discussed in Abuja include power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements.”

In July, after three weeks of talks, the two main rebel groups and the government agreed and signed a declaration of principles, which call for the return of refugees and new security arrangements.

But the broad declaration left details of a comprehensive peace settlement for later. Four earlier rounds of talks also failed to produce agreement.

Salim said the new talks would begin with a three-day workshop to informally discuss the concepts of wealth- and power-sharing.

Depending on the availability of money, the AU planned to increase its peacekeeping force in Darfur to about 7,000 troops and policemen from the current 4,000, he added.

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the SLM’s armed wing, and the smaller JEM took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of discrimination and neglect.

They say Khartoum responded by backing Arab militias to drive non-Arabs from their villages.

Reuter/ST