UN envoy: Darfur rebels must return to talks

KHARTOUM, April 3 (Reuters) – Stalled Darfur peace talks could restart in April because a U.N. resolution referring war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has removed rebel reasons not to negotiate, the top U.N. envoy in Sudan said on Sunday.

“It’s over now, they have to talk,” Jan Pronk told reporters in Khartoum. “There’s no reason anymore to fight, you don’t have any reason anymore not to negotiate.”

He added the government was willing to resume African Union-sponsored talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“It’s really possible now that such talks really could start in April,” Pronk said, adding rebel demands that the U.N. Security Council take human rights abuses in Darfur seriously had been met with the resolution passed late on Thursday night.

Resolution 1593 refers violence in Darfur since July 1, 2002, to the ICC, which is expected to take from the United Nations evidence and a sealed list of 51 government and army officials, militia and rebel leaders and some foreign army officers suspected of war crimes in Darfur to help its investigation.

The U.N.-appointed commission stopped short of agreeing with the United States and Darfur rebels that there is genocide in Darfur, but said heinous war crimes had taken place.

Several rounds of talks collapsed last year and the AU said so far this year it had been talking separately with all sides to find some common ground before resuming costly negotiations.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting in Darfur and more than 2 million have fled their homes to makeshift camps in the remote desert region.