Chad tries to convince west Sudan rivals to hold face-to-face talks

NDJAMENA, April 1 (AFP) — Chadian mediators shuttled back and forth between the hotels where the two sides in the conflict in west Sudan’s Darfur region were staying, trying to convince them to meet face-to-face after a day of preliminary talks.

On Wednesday, Chadian officials met separately at the foreign ministry in Ndjamena with representatives from rebel groups in Darfur and the Khartoum government, who have been fighting in the western Sudanese region near the border with Chad for more than a year.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have died in the increasingly bloody conflict, which has pitted rebels against government-backed militia groups in the region.

The Chadian mediation team was trying Thursday to convince the two sides to hold direct talks, a foreign ministry official told AFP.

“After yesterday’s discussions, we had the impression that both sides had the right frame of mind” for direct talks, said foreign relations advisor to Chadian president Idriss Deby, Allami Ahmat, who is part of the mediation team.

According to a diplomatic source in Ndjamena, “Chad is working as a ‘go-between’ between the delegates. The dialogue has not broken down, but we are not at the point yet where both sides are sitting together at a table.

“We shouldn’t be too optimistic, but there have been some important advances and positive signs,” he told AFP, saying the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels have been “in the same town at the same time for the past 48 hours.”

Unrest erupted in Darfur in February 2003 between pro-government forces and rebels who complain their region has been marginalised.

The fate of the people in the Darfur region has caused growing concern within the international community in recent weeks as the true scale of human rights violations and atrocities there has become apparent.

An estimated 670,000 people have been forced from their homes, many seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, earlier this month described the conflict as “the world’s greatest humanitarian and human rights catastrophe.”

Kapila said most of the atrocities were being carried out by militia groups fighting the rebels.