African Union mediators worked on Tuesday to break a Sudan rebel boycott of Darfur peace talks, meeting separately with the warring parties at talks thrown into chaos by rebel allegations of a new government offensive.
Sudan’s Darfur rebels announced a boycott of peace talks late on Monday, alleging a government offensive and saying a return to the negotiating table isn’t possible until the government promises to cease attacks.
”We are currently meeting with the consultants of the parties and our partners. We hope we’ll be able to reconvene,” said Assane Ba, an AU spokesperson.
Rebels accused the government of a new offensive late on Monday, saying they wouldn’t meet with government negotiators until the alleged attacks ceased — casting doubt on whether the latest round of peace talks could succeed in calming Darfur’s crisis.
Ba said AU mediators met with members of rebel and government delegations on Tuesday, but that they hadn’t yet been able to bring the two sides together.
Rebels, however, haven’t said they’re planning to leave the site of the talks, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Tens of thousands have died and nearly two million have been driven from their homes during the nearly two-year fight, which has sparked what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Previous peace negotiations have failed to stop nearly two years of fighting. AU officials said attacks continued last week. There was no independent confirmation that the government had launched a new offensive, as alleged by the rebels.
Representatives from Darfur’s two main rebel groups and Sudan’s government are attending the talks, which are expected to focus on reviewing past interim agreements, with power and wealth-sharing and disarmament among the final goals for peace.
Two newer, smaller, insurgent groups aren’t represented at the talks in Nigeria, a regional economic and military powerhouse that is the current head of the 52-nation African Union.
Earlier talks produced a November 9 accord on humanitarian access to the estimated 1,8-million war-displaced in Darfur and in neighbouring Chad, bringing new pledges of an end to hostilities — promises that were immediately violated.
Disease and famine have killed 70 000 in Darfur since March, the World Health Organisation says. There is no official reckoning of the overall toll of the war, which was sparked in February 2003 when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms to fight for more power and resources.
The Sudanese government responded by backing an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, which is accused of targeting civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.
The United States has accused Sudan’s government of failing to take sufficient steps to rein in the Janjaweed, who are alleged to have committed genocide in Darfur.
Additionally, a promised 3 000-member AU peace deployment for Darfur has so far managed to put only about 800 soldiers and 100 observers in the field. The United Nations calls the situation in Darfur the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis. – Sapa-AP