UN Darfur envoy says troubled by renewed fighting

December 7, 2007 (EL FASHER, Sudan) — Signs of renewed fighting in Darfur are a worrying omen for peace talks, a U.N. special envoy said Friday as he toured the troubled region in an attempt to draw reluctant rebels into negotiations with Sudan’s government.

Jan Eliasson is on a four-day trip to Darfur to press key leaders of the splintered rebel factions to unify their positions and join in the peace process that began in October but quickly broke off.

He had planned to meet Friday with Khalil Ibrahim, the powerful leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, but U.N. security officers would not allow his helicopter to go to the secret Darfur location where the meeting was to be held.

Security concerns arose over heavy recent fighting just over the border in Chad, some nine miles from the meeting site, and unconfirmed but widely circulated reports that Sudanese planes bombed rebel positions close to the meeting point two days earlier, U.N. officials said.

The fighting in Chad forced Sudan to close its borders, the Sudanese foreign ministry said.

Sudan declared a unilateral cease-fire when the now stalled peace negotiations opened in Sirte, Libya, on Oct. 27. Suspicions it could have breached the truce commitment and tribal clashes in Darfur do not bode well for peace efforts, Eliasson said.

“I find it disturbing that there is such military action,” he told The Associated Press. “Certainly, it doesn’t create an atmosphere conducive for talks.”

The talks launched in October are the seventh attempt at peace negotiations since the Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003, when ethnic African rebels took arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination.

Since then, violence has evolved into general chaos, with multiple rebel groups battling the Sudanese military and allied militias of nomad Arabs know as the janjaweed, which are blamed for the worst atrocities in a war that has killed over 200,000 people and made 2.5 million refugees.

A joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force is supposed to deploy in Darfur next month, taking over from an outgunned and undermanned AU mission that has been unable to quell the conflict.

Several rebel chiefs have said talks shouldn’t be held until the 26,000-soldier force moves in. But the commander for the 26,000-strong force has warned he will have less than half the pledged troops when the mission begins and fears lengthy delays before it effectively deploys.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also hasn’t been able to win commitments from any nations to provide transport and attack helicopters that are deemed essential to creating a peacekeeping force strong enough to provide security for its own troops as well as Darfur’s civilians.

(AP)