AU says Darfur awash with weapons and situation a time-bomb

Vast quantities of weapons have poured into Darfur in recent weeks and fighting could explode at any moment, the chief ceasefire monitor for the African Union said on Friday, dealing another blow to already-fragile peace talks. "The quantity of arms and ammunition brought into Darfur to meet the present build-up of troops in the region is (so) astronomical that the issue is no longer whether there will be fighting or not, but when fighting will start,” said Festus Okonkwo, head of the AU ceasefire monitors in the western Sudan region. Presenting a report to delegations from the Sudanese government and rebel groups at peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, he warned that Darfur was a "time bomb that could explode at any moment." The news that ceasefire violations continue unabated in the war-torn region further soured the mood in Abuja, where mediators had been hoping to get all sides to start discussing political sticking points and sign an initial agreement by 22 December. Talks had been stalled since Monday, the first day of face-to-face meetings in this fourth round of negotiations, when rebel groups walked out and vowed not to return to the table until Khartoum had stopped its offensive. The Sudanese government, in turn, accused the rebels of being the first to attack, and said its troops were simply retaliating and wanted to clear roads blocked by the enemy and protect civilians. AU officials had hoped that the latest ceasefire report would confirm fighting had stopped so full talks could resume, and the warring sides could move closer to ending the conflict that has raged for almost two years, leaving 2.3 million people in desperate need of humanitarian aid. But those plans were blown out of the water by Friday's report, which concluded that the government and the two rebel groups -- the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- were all continuing to violate an April ceasefire with abandon. The AU ceasefire monitors said the recent movement of 600-700 troops advancing in south Darfur, backed by around 200 militia fighters indicated "an offensive, which if launched would be prejudicial to the peace process." The report also said that SLM/A rebels were involved in an attack on aid workers from the UK-based charity Save The Children at the weekend in which two people were killed and three others went missing. Where next for the peace talks? After the damning report was released, AU officials said they were now working to get all armed sides to agree to move back to positions outlined in the April ceasefire agreement. Once that was done, mediators hoped to return to the original political agenda. While the mood was somewhat glum at the peace talks in Nigeria, in neighbouring Chad there was a small break-through. After four days of talks in the capital N'djamena, a third Darfur rebel group signed an eight-point peace pact with the Sudanese government. Sudan's Investment Minister Cherif Badour and the National Movement for Reform and Development (MNRD), which split from JEM earlier this year and was invited to separate negotiations, inked the deal on Friday. "We want peace and we want to give justice back to the people," MNRD president Nourene Barcham told reporters. The N'djamena agreement called for hostilities to cease, political prisoners to be freed, the government to disarm militias and the voluntary return of displaced persons. The UN estimates that more than 1.4 million people have fled their homes and are living in camps inside Darfur, while another 200,000 have sought refuge across the border in Chad. The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 when the rebels took up arms against the government, to fight for a better political and economic deal. Khartoum drafted in the Janjawid to put down the rebellion, but the Arab militiamen have been accused of targeting civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.