Sudan’s Beshir heads to Libya for Darfur talks with rebels

Feb 20, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has flown to Libya for talks with Darfur rebel leaders aimed at reviving faltering peace efforts, a news agency has said.

He was expected to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki and a number of representatives from the many rebel groups operating in the war-torn western Sudanese region.

The meeting “represents a new step in the dialogue between the government and the armed movements and should pave the way for talks to take place later in Asmara,” SUNA news agency quoted presidential adviser Abdallah Ali Massar as saying Tuesday.

United Nations and African Union envoys Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim were also due to join the talks in Tripoli.

Beshir travelled with a high-level delegation including Foreign Minister Alam Akol, top aides Majzub al-Khalifa and Nafie Ali Nafie, Presidential Affairs Minister Hassan Saleh and Investment Minister Malek Akar.

The Sudanese president flew to Tripoli in response to an invitation by Kadhafi to start negotiations with all rebel factions.

“Beshir has earlier declared willingness to negotiate with the armed movements,” a source at the presidential palace in Khartoum told AFP Monday.

However the official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to elaborate on the identities of the rebels due to take part in the talks.

According to press reports, the Sudanese leader is expected to engage in talks with rebel leaders who did not endorse the peace agreement signed in Abuja in May 2006.

The deal was reached under huge international pressure between the Sudanese government and one faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in Darfur but other key rebel groups refused to sign.

Since then, the rebel front has been increasingly fragmented into smaller groups formed along tribal lines and the conflict has started to spill over into neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.

The agreement failed to curb violence in Darfur, where deadly clashes continue to occur on a daily basis and from which many aid groups have threatened to withdraw.

According to UN figures, at least 200,000 people were killed and more than two million displaced since the fighting rebel groups and government forces supported by militias erupted four years ago.

Some sources say the death toll is much higher.

(AFP)