Darfur rebels lay down conditions for Sudan peace talks

KHARTOUM, Feb 21 (AFP) — Rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region on Monday reportedly made their participation at peace talks with Khartoum later this month conditional on EU and US officials overseeing ceasefire obligations.

SLA rebels gather for a meeting with au monitors at Gellab, a village in the desert east of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state on November 8, 2004. (Reuters).

The Sudanese government has announced that it will resume peace negotiations sponsored by the African Union in Nigeria at the end of February.

But the African Union has not yet notified the Sudan Liberation Movement about the talks in Abuja, an SLM spokesman told the independent Al-Sahafa daily.

SLM attendance at the talks would be conditional on the “reactivation” of a ceasefire committee, provided that EU and US officials were included in the line-up, he added.

“The movement has not received a notification (eds: correct) for the resumption of the negotiations and, moreover, regards reactivation of the African Union ceasefire commission as a prerequisite for holding the talks,” Mahjoub Hussein was quoted as saying by the daily.

The last round of peace talks between Khartoum and ethnic minority rebels broke off in December amid rebel charges that the government was planning a massive offensive in Darfur and constant ceasefire violations.

“The present circumstances are inappropriate for a new round of talks as the priority should be on humanitarian and security tasks,” Hussein was quoted as saying.

The forthcoming round of negotiations should be “serious with clear-cut programmes”, he added.

The Abuja talks are aimed at resolving a conflict which is estimated to have killed tens of thousands and driven more than a million from their homes since the rebellion began in February 2003.