Darfur peace talks enter full negotiations

Oct, 2005 3 (ABUJA) — Delegations of the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups fighting in the wartorn Darfur region began substantive political negotiations Monday as African Union peace talks entered their final phase.

The conference, aimed at bring to an end a 30-month-old civil war which has left 300,000 dead, began on September 15 but has so far been taken up with preliminary discussions on the agenda.

A full plenary session of the talks began in Abuja with an address by Salim Ahmed Salim, the chairman of the AU body overseeing the dialogue.

(AFP/ST)