Sudanese peace talks adjourn over agenda

ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug 23, 2004 (PANA) — The inter-Sudanese peace talks
adjourned for three hours Monday in Abuja, to enable a
select committee develop an agenda for the discussions,
Nigerian government officials said.

The talks, being hosted by Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasanjo in his capacity as African Union (AU) chair,
lasted for three hours behind closed-doors before
participants agreed to adjourn for the committee comprising
some AU member States, the AU Commission and the UN
to hammer out a working agenda.

Meanwhile, Najib Abdul Wahab, Sudan State Minister of Foreign
Affairs said the 19-member Sudanese delegation was satisfied
with the direction of the talks so far, although he stressed
the need for the delegation to consult with government back
home on developments at the meeting.

But representatives of the two rebel groups in Darfur at
the talks, complained that the focus did not address
the “root cause” of the crisis in Darfur.

“We are not ready to talk just about security and development,
we are ready to talk about politics,” said Ahmed Togot, leader
of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

He said the problem in the region, where the rebels have been
battling the Khartoum government for the past 19 months, was
“political” and would have to be resolved politically.

“Indications so far (at the talks) are that the Sudanese
government is not ready for a comprehensive solution to
the problem,” Togot charged.

But the JEM leader said he would wait for the agenda to
decide the next line of action.

The meeting was billed to re-convene at 20h00GMT.

President Obasanjo offered to host the talks after the
collapse of a previous meeting of the stakeholders in
Addis Ababa last month.

Representatives of the governments of Chad, Libya, DR
Congo, Uganda and Eritrea, as well as officials of the
UN and the Arab League attended the opening session
Monday.