Darfur peace talks to resume in June
Talks aimed at ending the armed conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur are expected to resume by 10 June in Nigeria, the African Union says.
“We at the AU hope to bring the rebels and the Sudanese government to the negotiating table by 10 June in Abuja,” African Union (AU) Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said on Thursday.
“I hope it will be crowned with success. There is no other solution than dialogue,” he told a donor pledging conference at AU headquarters in Ethiopia without elaborating.
Negotiations had been due to resume in the Nigerian capital on 30 May, but UN envoy Jan Pronk said on Wednesday that the two rebel groups in Darfur had delayed the talks and he urged them to get “their act together”.
The rebels accuse Khartoum of neglect and of using local Arab militia to loot and burn villages, a charge the government denies.
Peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, broke down six months ago.
The AU has about 2300 troops and hundreds of police on the ground to monitor a shaky ceasefire.