SUDAN: Libya hosts informal talks with government and Darfur rebels

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 13 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Libya has hosted an informal round of consultations with representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel movements in the western region of Darfur to ensure their attendance at formal negotiations which are due to begin in Nigeria on 23 August, a mediator in the peace process said on Friday.

Ahmat Allami, a Chadian government official who mediated an earlier round of Darfur peace talks in N'djamena in April, said officials from the African Union (AU), Libya and Chad held separate meetings with the two sides in the Mediterranean seaside town of Sirte on Thursday.

The two rebel movements in Darfur -- the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- were represented in Sirte by junior officials and the Sudanese government sent the foreign and agriculture ministers, he added.

Allami said the only snag at the Sirte talks, which lasted two to three hours, was that JEM had demanded a postponement of the Abuja negotiations, saying the starting date had been set arbitrarily by the AU.

Allami expressed surprise at this, saying the Abuja meeting had been called within a timeframe agreed by all parties to the negotiations at talks in Geneva on 22 July.

He said all other sides had committed to take part in the Abuja talks on 23 August at the highest level and warned that any party which failed to turn up in Abuja would bear the greatest responsibility for the meeting's failure.

French news agency AFP on Friday quoted JEM as saying they could not make it to the Nigerian capital before September 5.

The United Nations has described the situation in Darfur as "the worst humanitarian crisis", with over 1.2 million people displaced by fighting between the rebels and the pro-government Janjawid militia movement. More than 180,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad.

The JEM and SLA say they are fighting for greater recognition of their "marginalised region", which is mainly inhabited by black Africans.

The Abuja talks are due to be hosted by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in his capacity as chairman of the African Union (AU).

The organisation organised an earlier round of Darfur peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last month, but these broke down when the representatives of the two Darfur rebel groups walked out, demanding that the Janjawid be disarmed by Khartoum before substantive negotiations begin.

However, the AU remains closely involved in the Darfur peace process. It has sent 170 observers to monitor a shaky ceasefire, agreed at the N'djamena peace talks in April, and it is preparing to send up to 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the troubled region.

[ENDS]