Darfur mediators to hold a meeting without Sudanese parties

March 14, 2008 (GENEVA) — The top U.N. and African Union envoys to Darfur will lead talks on the stricken region in Geneva next week, but neither Sudan nor any of the rebel groups will attend, a diplomatic source said Friday.

AU envoy Salim Ahmed Salim and his U.N. counterpart Jan Eliasson “did not invite Sudan, because they could not secure the presence of the rebel groups in Geneva,” the source told AFP.

The U.N. said the talks are aimed at reaching an agreement among regional partners and international observers on how to further political progress in the strife-torn region, where at least 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the past five years.

The two envoys will hold talks Monday afternoon with regional partners such as Chad, Egypt, Eritrea and Libya, diplomats said.

On Tuesday, the talks will be widened to include other countries including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and China.

The U.N. estimates that more than 2 million people have fled their homes after ethnic minority rebels in Darfur took up arms against Khartoum in 2003, sparking a severe humanitarian crisis.

(AFP)