Rebels boycott Darfur talks

2007-10-27 10:07

Sirte, Libya - Peace talks aimed at ending four years of bloodshed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur start on Saturday, but without most of the rebel groups involved in the conflict.

The sponsors of the talks, the United Nations and African Union, have set themselves the objective of ending "the world's most devastating humanitarian crisis" sparked by the conflict that has raged since February 2003, killing 200 000 people and displacing two million others.

But a decision by eight factions from the disparate Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) not to attend the talks has tempered initial hopes of the talks achieving any real breakthrough.

The JEM said in a statement it would not go to Sirte because UN and AU mediation "has not produced a clear and precise vision of how to relaunch the peace process" after preliminary talks hosted by the organisations on Tuesday.

Only one rebel group - the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction of Khamis Abdallah Bakr - has said it will attend the talks at the Libyan resort.

Observers now fear the Sirte meeting will be a repeat of the last peace talks between the rebels and the government in Nigeria in 2006 in which only one of three negotiating factions signed a peace deal.

An opportunity not to be missed

The UN envoy to Darfur, Jan Eliasson, warned on the eve of the talks that "we may have a very dangerous development if we miss this opportunity."

"We are now, of course, coming close to the moment of truth. I would say (it's) the moment of hope for Darfur," he said.

Eliasson said hammering out a formal cessation of hostilities would be the talks' priority, although this will be difficult with most of the rebels absent. Other issues include arrangements for the return of displaced people.

Initial Sirte discussions will focus on issues of security and wealth-sharing, according to a UN statement released ahead of the talks.

Even before the announcements of withdrawal by various factions, rebel accusations that the Sudanese army and its Janjaweed militia allies attacked Darfur's largest displaced persons' camp at Kalma earlier this month had already poisoned the atmosphere.

Preparations for the Sirte talks have also been hit by a political crisis after the former southern rebels, the SPLM (Sudan People's Liberation Movement), withdrew from a national unity government.

The rump government of President Omar al-Beshir has accused its former partners of seeking "to torpedo the Sirte negotiations."

The SPLM says Beshir and his National Congress party have failed to implement key elements of a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of civil war between the Muslim north and mainly Christian and animist south.

- AFP