African Union seeks to unblock peace talks for Sudan’s Darfur

ABUJA, Sept 7 (AFP) — African Union mediators sought Tuesday to break the deadlock at peace talks for Sudan’s Darfur region, after negotiations bogged down over differences on security and disarmament between Khartoum and two rebel groups.

Mediators held separate meetings with representatives of the Sudanese government and leaders of Darfur’s two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), who rose up against Khartoum in February last year.

“The meetings were held to harmonise the positions of the two parties. Both of them made their presentations and the AU has taken note of that,” AU spokesman Assane Ba told AFP.

He said both sides would return to the table later Tuesday. The talks were scheduled to reconvene at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT).

The leader of the Sudanese delegation to the talks, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa told reporters: “We have been discussing the draft on security issue that was delivered by the AU and the secretariat and we said there should be certain areas that need clarification and finishing.

“We gave them our clarification and conclusion, and understanding. They said they are going through it and they will call us back,” he said.

He said Khartoum was ready to disarm the Janjaweed — the proxy militia fighting for the government in Darfur — and other armed gangs terrorising civilians.

“But this has to be done concurrently and simultaneously with elements of the rebel movements,” he insisted.

Thus far, the rebels have refused to discuss even the notion of their disarming ahead of a full political settlement with Khartoum.

The JEM’s chief negotiator, Ahmed Mohammed Tugod, said government forces have continuously breached a ceasefire signed between the two parties in April.

“Basically, the point of differences seems to be getting bigger and bigger,” he said.

“Sudanese troops and militia have continued to bombard the civilians and the communities. At the same time, the Sudanese forces always continuously intimidate our forces and attack them,” he alleged.

“We do need to make the point that Darfur should be a no-fly zone for all military aircraft, and even civilian aircraft used for military purposes.”

Tugod called on the AU to deploy troops with a mandate to disarm the Janjaweed, which has been accused of massacring Darfur’s black African population and systematically raping women.

Talks aimed at resolving the Darfur crisis, which has killed an estimated 50,000 people and forced another 1.4 million to flee their homes, have been under way for three weeks but made little progress.