Sudan’s Darfur peace talks adjourn for informal consultations

ABUJA, Nigeria, Oct 26, 2004 (PANA) — The second round of peace talks sponsored by the African Union between the Sudanese government and the two main rebel movements in Darfur adjourned here after a brief session Tuesday to allow mediators hold informal consultations with the various groups.

Majzoub al-Khalifa (L), Sudan’s Agriculture Minister and head of the Sudanese delegation speaks with a fellow delegate before the opening of political talks in Abuja, Nigeria. Tuesday October 26.

An AU official, Niang Boubou, told PANA the meeting was suspended following a request by the rebel movements for the informal consultations among themselves and the mediators.

“The movements asked for some more time for consultations, but the meeting is continuing tomorrow (Wednesday). In fact, the working group on the security issues will meet later today (Tuesday) to review their positions,” he said.

Sudanese government officials and spokesman for the movements
confirmed Boubou’s assertion.

Discussions at the talks got underway in the Nigerian capital
city Monday, three days after it was formally opened Friday.

At the talks, the parties — government of Sudan and the rebel
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation
Movement (SLM) — are negotiating on security issues, which is
the second item on the four-point agenda.

The first round of the talks at the same venue last month
foundered on the issues of security, with the government side
calling for a simultaneous disarmament of the pro-government
Janjaweed militia and the rebel fighters, while the rebels
insisted their fighters would not be disarmed ahead of a
comprehensive political solution to the crisis.

The parties had refused to sign an earlier agreement on
humanitarian protocol, which would have given international aid
workers better access to the Darfur region, where 20 months of
fighting have left an estimated 70,000 people dead and another
1.5 million displaced.

Meanwhile, Force Commander of the AU protection force in Darfur,
Maj./Gen. Festus Okonkwo, has confirmed that no invitation was
extended to the new splinter groups, including the National
Movement for Reconstruction and Development (NMRD) that have
emerged in the Darfur region.

“We have not made any contact with them,” Gen. Okonkwo told PANA
at the venue of the talks Tuesday, adding: “They are just a very
small group of renegades ambushing people about.”

However, he said in accordance with the decision of the AU’s
Peace and Security Council, “there maybe a need to hold informal
discussions with the leaders of the groups to ensure that they do
not constitute a threat to the peace process in the future.”

On Monday, Boubou also ruled out the presence of the splinter
groups at the talks.