Sudan Govt:Darfur Rebels Say Will Reopen Peace Talks Feb

ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan 31, 2005 (AP) – Sudan’s government and Darfur rebels said Monday they’ll reopen long-stymied peace talks within weeks in Nigeria, aimed at calming the western Sudan region where tens of thousands have died in fighting.

Asked by The Associated Press if the government had plans to return to the negotiating table after previous rounds of failed talks, Sudan Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail replied: “In February. In Abuja.”

“Yes we will be there,” said a top Sudanese Liberation Army negotiator, Abakar Mohamed Abu el-Bashar, reached by telephone in London. “We will be very happy to be there.”

A Western diplomat said the latest peace conference is scheduled for the third week of February, in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

The most recent peace conference began Dec. 11 in Abuja, but rebels boycotted face-to-face meetings with government delegates two days later, alleging a new government offensive. The talks broke down entirely within weeks.

Three earlier rounds of peace talks failed to calm Darfur and an April cease-fire has been roundly ignored. The African Union, currently holding a summit in Abuja, has hundreds of 800 AU soldiers protecting dozens of cease-fire monitors in Darfur.

Disease and hunger have killed 70,000 in Darfur region since March alone, the World Health Organization says. Nearly 2 million are believed to have fled their homes since rebels took up arms in February 2003.

There is no official reckoning of the overall toll of the war, which was sparked when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms to fight for more power and resources from the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.

The Sudanese government is accused of responding by backing an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, which is accused of targeting civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson. The U.S. says genocide has occurred in Darfur.