New Darfur peace bid
2007-02-12 15:09
Khartoum - Envoys from the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) arrived in Khartoum on Monday in a bid to revive peace talks in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur.
Jan Eliasson of the UN and Salim Ahmed Salim of the AU are due to meet officials in Khartoum before heading to Darfur in a bid to win over rebel groups which did not sign a May 2006 peace deal with the government.
"We will endeavour to broaden the accord to include the non-signatories," Salim told reporters on his arrival.
Only the mainstream faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Minni Minnawi signed last year's agreement in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Two other factions involved in the talks refused and the conflict has raged on amid mounting splits among the rebels.
About 7 000 AU military observers are stationed in Darfur to try to oversee the implementation of the agreement, but the under-equipped and cash-strapped force has struggled to patrol a region the size of France.
Salim expressed optimism over the latest peace bid despite the divisions among the rebels.
On January 12, Minnawi's former spokesperson Hussein Mahjoub split off from the SLM to form the Great Sudan Liberation Movement because of what he described as the failure of the Abuja agreement.
The ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum in February 2003, drawing a scorched earth response from government troops and Arab militia allies.
At least 200 000 people have died from the combined effect of war and famine, while more than two million more have fled their homes, according to UN officials.
Other sources put the death toll far higher.