Mediators hope for “decisive round” of Darfur peace talks

African Union (AU) mediators are hoping for decisive progress in efforts to end the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region when a seventh round of peace talks opens in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Tuesday. Violence, killings and rapes have escalated in the past two months in contravention of a ceasefire and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week warned that Darfur could descend into complete lawlessness and anarchy. Talks initially due to resume a week ago were delayed as mediators worked to patch up divisions in the main Darfur rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Movement/ Army (SLM/A). In a breakthrough on Saturday, the two rival faction leaders within the group, Abdul Waheed Al-Nur and Mini Minawi, met in the Chadian capital Ndjamena and agreed to present a joint position at the talks. An AU statement welcomed the decision on Monday and said it expected “this round will be a decisive one” as pledged by the rebels and the government when the previous talks ended in October. Representatives of the SLM/A and smaller rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have already arrived in Abuja, and representatives of the Sudanese government are expected to follow, said AU spokesman Nouredinne Mezni. The AU decided to invite both the Al-Nur and Minawi factions to ensure no one was kept out, said Mezni. The presence of Minawi, who boycotted previous peace talks also in Abuja, is seen as crucial to the success of the negotiations as he has the support of many of the SLM/A’s fighters in the field. Growing rifts between both political leaders and military commanders of the SLM/A have led to a breakdown in the movement's command structure and contributed to the deadlock in previous peace talks. There has been little headway so far on issues such as the share-out of wealth and of power or on security that are at the centre of the fighting. The Darfur conflict pits Sudanese government troops and Arab militias against rebels fighting to end what they call the neglect and oppression of the inhabitants of Darfur, a semi-desert region the size of France. Most Darfur residents are black Africans who say the Arab-dominated Khartoum government wants to chase them out of the country. The United Nations has described the situation in Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that at least 2.9 million people continue to be affected by the conflict of whom 1.85 million were forced to flee their homes.