Sudan talks with Darfur rebels to start Friday

ZAM ZAM, Sudan, July 1 (Reuters) – Sudanese Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said talks with anti-government rebels from the western Darfur region would start in Chad on Friday.

After years of conflict in Darfur between nomadic Arab tribes and African farmers, two groups rebelled last year, accusing Khartoum of arming the Arab Janjaweed militias, whose looting and burning of villages has sparked a major humanitarian crisis.

The government denies it supports the Janjaweed.

“Our negotiation team comprising the state ministers for foreign affairs … and the state minister for humanitarian affairs … has left for N’Jammena with Kofi Annan to start political negotations,” Hussein told Reuters on Friday.

Talks would begin the following day, he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have both visited Sudan this week in an effort to get Darfur peace talks moving.