Sudan’s Darfur peace talks delayed a week – AU

Nov 17, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — The next round of African Union-sponsored talks aimed at ending fighting in Sudan’s Darfur have been delayed a week for logistical reasons, a spokesman at the continental body’s headquarters said Thursday.

The talks were due to start Monday but will now resume on Nov. 28, said spokesman Assane Ba.

Ba said parties had just completed a three-day seminar in Kenya on wealth and power sharing, causing a delay in getting lists of participants from all sides and providing airline tickets.

The talks, which are held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, have been plagued by delays and other problems.

The last monthlong round, which ended Oct. 20, opened with the rebels fighting among themselves and ended with little progress reported. Meanwhile, violence was reportedly increasing in Darfur.

Since the last round, the rebels have been under pressure to resolve their differences and present a united front at the next session.

After decades of low-level clashes over land and water in Darfur, rebels from ethnic African tribes launched a large-scale conflict in early 2003, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect. The central government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages.

At least 180,000 people have died from hunger and disease in the ensuing chaos, and some 2 million have fled their homes. There are no firm estimates for the number killed in fighting and Janjaweed attacks.

(AP/ST)