Darfur Rebel Leaders Want Talks Halted

SIRTE, Libya (AP) — Key rebel leaders in Sudan's Darfur region called Monday for a peace conference to be canceled, but U.N. and African mediators bid for more time in hopes of drawing the insurgents into the stalled talks. The two main rebel chiefs have boycotted the U.N. and African Union-brokered conference since it began in this Libyan city Saturday, saying they won't sit alongside minor rebel factions that they describe as stooges of the Sudanese government. Their rejection of the meeting has blocked long-sought direct negotiations between rebels and Sudan's government on bringing peace to Darfur, a region where more than 200,000 people have died in nearly five years of conflict.

Jan Eliasson, the chief U.N. envoy at the meeting, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decided not to postpone the conference despite the absence of the rebel chiefs because he felt it was urgent to push for an end to the suffering of Darfur civilians. African Union spokesman Noureddine Mezni took a similar position. "We're trying to find a formula to conciliate the sense of urgency with the rebels' need for more time," Mezni said. But leaders of the two main rebel forces — the Justice and Equality Movement and a major faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement headed by Abdulwahid Elnur — called for an outright cancellation for now. Elnur, founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement, insisted he would not participate in talks until a 26,000-strong force of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers deploys to Darfur in January and shows it has the muscle to end violence. "I appeal very, very strongly on Eliasson not to pursue this failed negotiations process," Elnur said by telephone from his base in Paris. "They need to first stop the killing of my people."

Khalil Ibrahim, founder of the Justice and Equality Movement who initially supported holding the conference, also said the talks should be canceled. "We have to arrange for another time, this is not working," said Ibrahim, who leads the most potent rebel force. He said he would not attend because mediators let in splinter groups beholden to the Sudanese government in Khartoum. "These aren't rebels, they took money from Khartoum and were created to dilute the cause of Darfur," Ibrahim told The Associated Press by satellite phone. The mediators, who have traveled for months through Darfur, insist they invited everybody to Sirte so that talks would be as inclusive as possible. Ahmed Farzi, spokesman for the mediators, Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim of the African Union, said envoys would be sent to Darfur in the coming days to meet with the boycotting rebel leaders. He said those leaders "have a sincere interest in peace and a desire to participate."

Meanwhile, talks among various civilian delegates and a handful of low-level rebels continued in Sirte's half-empty conference center. Organizers said they were discussing a "general framework" for future peace.

Darfur's ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government in early 2003, accusing it of discrimination. The regime has been accused of waging a campaign of atrocities on civilians, causing 2.5 million to flee their homes. The government denies doing that.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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