SUDAN:Peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur's rebel groups could begin next month, according to senior United Nations (UN) officials.
As UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon flew to Khartoum yesterday to check how the newly agreed force of UN and African Union (AU) peacekeepers will operate in Sudan's western region, a senior official travelling with him said the political outlook had improved. "If the talks start, we expect the level of violence will go down," he told reporters on Mr Ban's plane.
The UN security council agreed in July to almost triple the number of foreign troops and police in Darfur with the aim of protecting millions of displaced people. The AU will continue to supply all the infantry for the 20,000-strong force but other nations will provide transport aircraft, helicopters and logistics, while command will be under joint UN/AU leadership.
Mr Ban's visit, which also includes stops in Chad and Libya, is his first since Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, agreed to accept the beefed-up force for Darfur. A peace agreement negotiated last year collapsed after two of the rebel leaders failed to sign at the last minute.
But in Arusha in Tanzania last month, the mediators persuaded seven rebel leaders to agree on a common platform for talks with the government, which the official said would open "hopefully next month". "The next stage is that they agree on a negotiating team which . . . is difficult."
Abdul Wahid al-Nur, the founder of the Sudan Liberation Army which took up arms against the government in 2003 in a bid to end Darfur's marginalisation, boycotted the Arusha talks. The UN hopes he will change his mind once a venue and date for the talks are fixed.
UN officials say one reason for hope is that - unlike in the last negotiations - the views of displaced people in the camps as well as those of tribal leaders and representatives of women and civil society will be heard.
UN officials fear tensions in Darfur could become explosive if peace is not made soon.
Frustration in the camps is growing after four years of homelessness. Deserted villages have started to be taken over by other people who do not own the land.