Splinter groups absent as Darfur peace talks resume in Abuja

ABUJA, Nigeria, Oct 25, 2004 (PANA) — The second round of talks on the conflict
in Darfur between the Sudanese government and the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA)
resumed here Monday, without two splinter groups said to have
emerged from the rebel ranks.

The talks officially got underway last Friday, but negotiations
in earnest were put on hold for Monday to give enough time for
the delegates to arrive.

UN special envoy on Darfur, Ian Pronk expressed the hope the
resumed talks would make more reasonable progress than was the
case when the parties first met in Abuja last month.

“There are indications that the people are tired of fighting. I
also notice that they willing to talk,” he said after the first
session.

Pronk said international and regional pressure was mounting on
factions in the crisis to make genuine progress at the talks.

“African countries are saying to the Sudanese people: We are
ashamed of the killings going on in the area. They are saying you
cannot continue,” he said.

Pronk said the UN Security Council had equally sent very clear
messages on its expectations: “that progress should be made to
arrest the human carnage going on [in Darfur].”

Speaking after the morning session, rebel spokesperson Ahmed
Togodt said they were committed to the talks. However, he
expressed worry about what he said were violations of the
ceasefire agreement by the government.

“In the eastern part of Darfur, even as I speak with you, so many
people have been bombed and killed,” Togodt told reporters.

Concerning the emergence of two new movements in the region to
the talks, he charged that the governments of Sudan and Chad
sponsored the groups to sow confusion in the talks in Abuja.

Togodt warned that the rebels would not sign the humanitarian
protocol agreed at the first session of the talks last month,
“unless there is true commitment on the side of the Sudan
government.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the government delegation, Magzoob Al-
Khalifa denied any involvement of Khartoum in the emergence of
the two new rebel movements.

He maintained that one of the new groups was closely linked to
the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and that the group was
being sponsored by Al-Hassan El-Turabi, a “disgruntled former
member of the government.”

Al Khalifa, however, expressed the hope that the resumed talks
would record greater achievements, adding “we have come with open
hands and ready to talk and make compromises.”

The talks were adjourned last month after the rebels failed to
sign the humanitarian protocol, which would have granted aid
workers more access to the restive Darfur region.

The fighting, which broke out 20 months ago between the
government of Sudan and the two main rebel groups has killed an
estimated 70,000 people and displaced 1.5 million more.

The latest round of the talks sponsored by the African Union is scheduled to last three weeks.