Sudan government, rebels move towards new talks on Darfur

Jul 16, 2007, 13:15 GMT

Nairobi - The brutal Darfur conflict moved one step closer to a solution Monday when delegates at an African Union (AU) and United Nations meeting in Libya agreed to convene next month in a bid to include rebel factions in peace talks.

The second international meeting on Darfur, which brought together envoys from 14 countries, agreed to hold discussions in Arusha, Tanzania, August 3-5 to discuss how to move forward a stagnant political resolution to the four-year-long conflict.

'The meeting welcomed the proposal of the special envoys to convene a meeting with leading personalities of the non signatory movements ... in an effort to facilitate the preparations for negotiations,' said a final communique issued in the Libyan capital Tripoli after the two-day meeting.

Only one of the western region's rebel factions signed on to a largely ineffective peace deal in May 2006 and observers say a more inclusive agreement is necessary to foster a full peace.

Since last year, splinter groups have been forming and on Saturday a new group, the United Front for Liberation and Development, came together to act as a stronger force at the negotiating table.

The Darfur conflict, which Washington terms genocide, began when rebels rose up against Khartoum's Islamist government, complaining that the region remained poor and undeveloped.

Khartoum is charged with arming militias on horse-back to quash the rebellion, and in turn the UN estimates more than 200,000 people have been killed and some 2 million forced from their homes. The government disputes those numbers.

Sudan last month accepted a 'hybrid' UN-AU mission of up to 20,000 troops to be deployed to keep the peace in war-ravaged Darfur but it would be months before such a force is on the ground.