Libya to host Sudanese forum on Darfur

TRIPOLI, Dec 29 (AFP) — Libya will host an inter-Sudanese forum on the conflict in Darfur next month which is expected to include representatives of both rebels and the Khartoum government, a rebel official said Wednesday.

The announcement comes shortly after negotiations between Khartoum and rebels in Nigeria aimed at ending the nearly two-year conflict in Darfur were suspended until January.

The Tripoli meeting, called by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, will take place on January 1 and 2 and group about 400 people, said Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) coordinator Abubker Hamid Nur.

Delegations from both the JEM and the other main rebel movement in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), will take part along with Sudanese from Darfur and several foreign countries, he told reporters in Tripoli.

Sudanese sources said the Khartoum government would also be represented.

African Union-sponsored talks in Nigeria have made no progress towards a lasting political settlement after the Sudan government and its allied Janjaweed militia launched a military offensive in breach of a ceasefire.

Rebels in Darfur, a vast western desert region the size of France, rose up against the Sudan government in February 2003.

The government retaliated with the help of proxy militias which have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign that Washington has called a genocide. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.5 million left homeless.