Fresh fighting in Darfur threatens peace talks, says AU mediator

Renewed fighting between Sudanese government forces and a rebel faction in the troubled Darfur region could jeopardise ongoing peace talks, the African Union has said. “Military activities in all sectors in Darfur…have negatively impacted on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in need and threaten the current round of the peace talks,” Salim Ahmed Salim, the special representative of the AU overseeing negotiations, said in a statement on Thursday. The sixth round of Darfur peace talks between the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups opened belatedly on Sunday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Citing specific clashes in recent days between government forces and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in the Shangil Tobaya and Al Mallam, chief AU mediator Salim said he was "gravely concerned over the deteriorating security situation”. He called for the United Nations and the international community to exert pressure on the warring factions “to ensure that those who would want to derail the ongoing efforts to end the conflict in Darfur, do not succeed”. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, making his monthly report on Darfur to the UN Security Council this week, said Darfur civilians needed protection from continuing attacks from all sides. Annan called on the rival parties to work towards securing a final settlement to the conflict before the end of the year, but progress has been slow at the latest round of talks in Abuja. So far there have been no formal negotiations, only workshops organised by the AU mediators for the rival delegations to hammer out some initial consensus on the key issues of sharing power and wealth, as well as ensuring lasting security in the region. “The whole of this week has been devoted to the workshops, the discussion of the substantive issues will begin next week,” AU spokesman Assane Ba said. Annan said the establishment of a unity government in Khartoum on the basis of the peace agreement with southern Sudanese rebels provided an “unprecedented opportunity” to work for enduring peace in Darfur. 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 of the Darfur residents are black Africans who say the Arab-dominated Khartoum government wants to chase them out of the country. The UN estimates that 180,000 lives have been lost and that a further two million people have been forced to flee their homes, while the United States government has accused Khartoum of genocide.