Mediators, Sudan warring parties hammer out Darfur peace-talks agenda

By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer

ABUJA, Nigeria, Dec 12, 2004 (AP) — African mediators and negotiators from groups battling in Sudan’s Darfur region met Sunday to draw up an agenda for the latest round of peace talks, officials said.

“We’re now consulting separately with the parties. The consultations will determine the program for face-to-face talks,” said Assane Ba, a spokesman for the African Union, which is sponsoring the talks.

Mediators hoped to bring the sides together as early as Monday, said Ba.

Previous peace negotiations have failed to stop nearly two years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people and left nearly 2 million homeless. AU officials said attacks continued this week.

Representatives from Darfur’s two main rebel groups and Sudan’s government are attending the talks, which are expected to focus on reviewing past interim agreements, with power- and wealth-sharing and disarmament among the final goals for peace.

Two newer, smaller insurgent groups aren’t represented at the talks that opened Saturday in the capital of Nigeria, a regional economic and military powerhouse that is current head of the 52-nation African Union.

Earlier talks produced a Nov. 9 accord on humanitarian access to the estimated 1.8 million war-displaced in Darfur and in neighboring Chad, bringing new pledges of an end to hostilities — promises that were immediately violated.

Disease and famine have killed 70,000 in Darfur since March, the World Health Organization says. There is no official reckoning of the overall toll of the war, which was sparked in February 2003 when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms to fight for more power and resources.

The Sudanese government responded by backing an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, which is now accused of targeting civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.

Additionally, a promised 3,000-member AU peace deployment for Darfur has so far managed to put only about 800 soldiers and 100 observers in the field. The United Nations calls the situation in Darfur the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis.