Peace talks on Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region are deadlocked, one mediator said Monday, as the African Union's chief appealed to the Sudanese government and rebels to compromise. The two-week-old talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja have failed to move past the crucial question of disarming - with rebels saying they will lay down their guns only after Sudan's pro-government militia, the Janjaweed, does so. ``It appears deadlocked, as the two sides are holding to their hard-line positions,'' Brig. Gen. Festus Okwonko, a mediator and commander of the African Union's cease-fire monitoring troops in Darfur, told reporters.
The two rebel movements - the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice, Equity Movement - draw their support from African tribes in the region. The Sudanese government is acccused of backing the Janjaweed in an effort to stamp out the rebellion, a charge Khartoum denies. Mediators asked Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union's current chief, to intervene personally. Obasanjo did so Monday, urging both rebels and Sudan's government to ease their demands at the scheduled resumption of talks later in the day, said Ahmed Tugod, spokesman for the rebels.
The rebels remain insistent that government warplanes stop bombing in Darfur and that Janjaweed militia be disbanded and investigated for any human-rights violations, Togod said. ``For us, these issues will decide the fate of the talks,'' the rebel spokesman said. Sudan's chief negotiator, Majzoub Khalifa, insisted Monday his government remained committed to the talks, saying: ``We are ready to continue the negotiations on the security matter.'' Sudan's delegates, however, warned against any intervention in the talks beyond that of the African Union - apparently fearing the United States or others might be moved to bring pressure to bear. ``Any ... type of interventions in the talks will only complicate matters,'' said Gen. Abdullah Saffi El Nour, a Sudan government envoy to the talks.
An effective international force would certainly complicate handing out the oil contracts in Darfur. |
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