Darfur peace talks start direct negotiations
ABUJA, Oct 3 (AFP) – Members of the Sudanese government and the two rebel movements fighting in the war torn Darfur region began substantive peace talks Monday as the African Union called for an end to a recent upsurge in violence.
“We cannot understand the repeated acts of banditry in Darfur,” AU conference chairman Salim Ahmed Salim admonished government and rebel delegates, as he declared open the plenary stage of the dialogue in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
“We cannot understand the killing of innocent civilians — even in internally displaced persons’ camps — and the destruction of the homes and the social fabric of Darfur when the major participants are all here in Abuja,” he complained.
The latest round of the year-old conference, aimed at bringing to an end a 30-month-old civil war which has left 300,000 dead, began on September 15, but delegates have so far been divided into groups discussing side issues and setting the conference agenda.
Last week the head of the African Union’s ceasefire monitoring team in Darfur accused the government of supporting an attack by an armed militia on villages and displaced persons’ camps in north Darfur which left around 44 people dead.
The government has firmly denied involvement in the attack, and said Monday that it remained committed to the dialogue in Abuja.
“This peace process has been launched and it will never stop. We are not satisfied with the delay so far because our people are suffering,” said Khartoum’s chief negotiator Majzoub al-Khalifa.
“We wish these delegations to be very sincere … We want a clear determination to make the present round a decisive round, beginning today we must have a new turning point,” he added.
Spokesmen for Darfur’s rebel groups — the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement — thanked the African Union monitors for their criticism of the alleged government attacks and called on the international community to step up pressure on Khartoum.
But both groups also expressed hope that the start of the plenary session would bring a negotiated settlement much closer.
And SLM spokesman Abdurahman Musa told reporters that a faction of his movement which had been boycotting the talks had now come on board, increasing the chances that an eventual peace deal could be implemented on the ground.
Asked whether the differences between the two rival SLM factions had been resolved, he said: “To be frank, not yet. But we agreed that the negotiations should continue because that is the demand of the people of Darfur.”
Salim told delegates that talks on power-sharing would begin on Monday and continue until around October 10. Talks on security arrangements are scheduled to begin on October 15 and this round of negotiations is expected to end around October 20, he said.
Although much of this period will take place during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of prayer and fasting, the sessions will be arranged so as to inconvenience the entirely Muslim delegations as little as possible, he said.
“We believe and expect that the Abuja talks and the holy month of Ramadan will be used for confidence and trust building, to begin an era of peace in Darfur,” Salim said.
“It’s time for those of you who have opted for a negotiated political solution to the conflict to get together to isolate those who made it a point to kill, burn, steal and rape in Darfur.”