Darfur rebel talks to wrap up Monday
August 5, 2007 (ARUSHA, Tanzania) — Talks aimed at defining a common position for Darfur’s fractious rebel groups ahead of peace negotiations with Khartoum are expected to wrap up on Monday, participants said.
“We will close the meeting tomorrow and it looks like the outcome will be positive, there will be some very concrete steps,” one rebel faction leader told AFP Sunday.
Eights rebel factions were represented by political and military officials at the talks in Arusha, Tanzania, which were initially due to wrap up on Sunday.
The rebel representatives have been holding meetings between themselves and with African Union and United Nations mediators.
Among other things, the rebels discussed the composition of a joint negotiating team for peace talks with Khartoum which officials have predicted could kick off within the next two months.
The date and venue of the talks as well as the rebels’ stance on key issues such as wealth and power sharing were also on the agenda
The Arusha meeting was the largest gathering of key rebels since the Abuja negotiations, which yielded a peace deal in May 2006 that was only endorsed by one rebel faction and has failed to restore stability in the war-torn western Sudanese region.
The conflict in Darfur flared up in early 2003 when rebels from minority tribes staged an uprising against the Khartoum government demanding political and economic reforms.
The government and allied Janjaweed militia responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, resulting in the death of at least 200,000 people and displacement of two million others.
(AFP)