Darfur rebel factions began arriving in Tanzania today for UN-African Union (AU)-sponsored talks ahead of peace talks with the Sudanese government.
The talks aimed at ending the four-year-old conflict in western Sudan have taken on a new importance since the UN Security Council decided on Tuesday to approve the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops and police to stem the bloodshed in Darfur.
Africa Union Special Envoy for Darfur Salim Ahmed Salim (R) talks to his UN counterpart Jan Eliasson (L) during a preparatory meeting in Arusha yesterday. Image: Reuters.
At the AU-UN sponsored talks in the Tanzanian resort town of Arusha, the rebels are due to try and work out a single negotiating position for peace talks with the government. It should also produce a date and venue for the talks.
Darfur rebels have split into about a dozen groups. UN officials said only one or two rebel representatives had arrived in Arusha by yesterday and that most were not expected to arrive until this afternoon.
That meant no real talks would get under way until tomorrow at the earliest, said the officials.
The conflict erupted in early 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Khartoum government, which they accused of neglecting their area.
The government responded by arming mostly Arab militias known as Janjaweed to attack the rebels. Independent experts say 200,000 people have died as a result of the conflict and 2.5 million have been displaced.
Sudan says only 9,000 have been killed.
A May 2006 peace agreement with the government was signed by only one rebel negotiating faction.