Glance at Darfur peace talks taking place in Nigeria

By The Associated Press

PARTIES TO THE TALKS:

– The delegation of the Islamic-oriented, Khartoum-based Sudanese government is led by Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad, a Cabinet minister, chief of the ruling National Congress party’s political department and government delegate to the last, failed Darfur peace talks in July.

– The rebel Sudan Liberation Army , a secular organization, is believed to have been initially provided with training and, possibly, weapons from the main southern rebel group, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army, which has almost concluded negotiating an end to its 21-year conflict with the Sudanese government. It is unclear if the SLA currently receives military aid from the SPLA, but it has political support from the southern rebels. Sudanese authorities also accuse the Eritrean government of backing the SLA.

– The Justice and Equality Movement is an Islamist organization reputedly linked to the Popular National Congress Party of Hassan al-Turabi, the Sudanese Islamist ideologue, one-time supporter of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir and former parliament speaker. The JEM has also apparently received support from Chad and some captured rebels have been found with Chadian identification and arms.

BACKGROUND TO THE CONFLICT:

– Long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and African villagers over resources in Darfur’s three states exploded into violence in February 2003 when the two African-based rebel groups took up arms against government forces over what they regarded as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle with Arab countrymen.

– The Sudanese government has been accused of using troops and aircraft to attack rebels and villagers, while Janjaweed militias, who the United States and aid groups say are backed by the government, have been accused of killing African tribespeople and burning scores of villages to the ground.

– The conflict is estimated to have killed 30,000 people and forced many more to flee their homes.

PEACE TALKS HOST:

– The African Union has taken various approaches to dealing with the Darfur conflict, offering to host peace talks in Nigeria and receiving Sudanese government approval to deploy a 300-member protection force to guard African Union monitors of an April 8 cease-fire agreement.

– More than 150 AU troops from Rwanda are currently in Darfur protecting some 80 of the promised 150 union cease-fire observers. Another 150 Nigerian soldiers are expected to arrive in coming weeks.

– Sudan has agreed to the initial 300-strong force to protect the monitors, but is reluctant to allow a larger force with powers to protect civilians deploy to Darfur, claiming it could inflame tensions in the volatile region.