Rebels to attend Sirte mini-summit on Darfur crisis

KHARTOUM, Oct 11, 2004 — The two Darfur rebel groups have confirmed that they would attend the summit in Libyan town of Sirte on Sunday 17 October, Leaders of Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Chad and Sudan will discuss ways of reviving the negotiations between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels.

The rebels have confirmed their readiness to attend the talks at a time when Khartoum is preparing itself for a new comings and goings with the arrival of a number of European and African delegations as of tomorrow.

The Foreign minister, Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, said the quinquepartite summit on Sunday would produce a fresh impetus for the African Union efforts to push for a final solution to the Darfur crisis.

Rebel sources told Al-Ra’y al-Amm that they had received an invitation from mediator President Obasanjo, and that they had accepted the invitation to attend the conference, which is expected to draw up a fresh framework for the [next round] of Abuja talks.

Meanwhile, AU Special Envoy Hamid al-Ghabid will arrive to Khartoum tomorrow for an official visit to discuss with senior officials the next round of talks between the government and the Darfur rebels in Abuja, due to start 21 October.

In statements to the press, Dr Mustafa said the government hoped that his visit would give the necessary impetus to resolve the situation in Darfur through a peace agreement.

Source Al-Ray al-Amm, material from the BBC Monitoring Service