Rebels from Sudan’s Darfur and African Union hold ‘constructive’ talks

GENEVA, July 22 (AFP) — The African Union’s mediator for the conflict in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region said he had held constructive talks with rebel groups from the region.

But the special envoy for Darfur, Niger’s former prime minister Hamid Algabid, did not give a date for resumption of peace talks involving the rebels and the Sudanese government.

“I express my satisfaction with the constructive dialogue with the different parties on a number of important questions,” he told reporters after meeting leaders of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A).

“I believe these consultations, which were held in a spirit of openness, can only lead to the consolidation of the process of dialogue, amid the critical situation that the population of Darfur is facing,” he added.

The two rebel groups left the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa Sunday after mediators failed to convince them to start scheduled direct talks with the Sudanese government.

Algabid said he would be following up the Geneva meeting with further consultations with the Sudanese government in Sudan, and later with the president of neighbouring Chad.

Asked when full-fledged peace talks might resume, he said: “One party cannot fix a date, we have to first finish consultations with all the parties, before we can know the date that is convenient for all parties.”

“In any case we are heading in the right direction,” he added.

Algabid said the “problems” between the sides had now become “pre-conditions” that needed to be ironed out.

He cited the disarmament of the government-affiliated Janjaweed militia, the exchange of prisoners, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid in the region.

Representatives of the two rebel groups left the lakeside villa of the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which had organized the meeting, without speaking to reporters.

The African Union had been expected to announce this week a renewed attempt to bring Khartoum and two rebel groups back to the negotiating table.

More than a year of fighting in Darfur region has killed some 10,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

The violence started when rebel groups rose up in February 2003, prompting a brutal crackdown by Sudanese forces and affiliated Arab militias.