Sudan denies adjournment of Darfur peace talks

Nov 19, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — A senior Sudanese official on Saturday denied media reports that the African Union (AU) had decided to put off the next round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels from Nov. 21 to Nov. 28.

Sudanese presidential advisor Majzoub al-Khalifa (photo), who is also head of the government’s delegation to the talks, made the remarksin a press statement following a meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol.

“The government has not received an official notification on the adjournment of the negotiations,” said Khalifa.

“We have learned from media that there is an intention of the AU to adjourn the negotiations in order to build up a suitable atmosphere, considering the recent split among the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM),” he added. The SLM is a key Darfur rebel group.

Khalifa also reaffirmed that the Sudanese government’s delegation was ready to enter the next round of peace talks with rebels in a bid to end more than two years of violence in Sudan’s western arid region of Darfur.

On Friday, the Sudanese daily Al-ray-alaam reported that the Darfur conflicting sides had welcomed, with reservation, the AU’s decision to adjourn the seventh round of peace talks, and that theAU, Darfur peace broker, demanded the SLM to send a unified delegation to the talks.

But the SLM spokesman Mahjoub Hussein said his movement was united and would participate peace talks in the Nigerian capital of Abuja with a unified delegation.

Rebels took up arms in the Darfur region against the central government in February, 2003, accusing Khartoum of negligence.

Rounds of talks under the auspices of the AU in Abuja have so far failed to strike a peace deal.

(Xinhua/ST)