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Talks on Darfur Open With Partial Boycott by Rebels
Nafie Ali Nafie, head of the Sudanese government delegation, attends the opening session of the Darfur peace talks in Sirte, Libya. Sudan's government team promised a unilateral cease-fire at the conference.
(By Nasser Nasser -- Associated Press)
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Mediators are eager to calm Darfur before the peacekeepers are deployed. Envoys announced the Sirte talks in September.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Rebel leaders gave varying reasons for their boycott: that rebels should resolve differences among themselves before negotiating with Sudan's government, or that the talks should not have started before deployment of the peacekeepers.
Refusal to attend talks "itself could be an act of violence," A.U. Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare warned at the opening Saturday.
Mediators had pressed both sides to declare a cease-fire during the talks. The Sudanese government team obliged Saturday, promising a unilateral cease-fire. Rebels at the talks promised only to consider a truce.
The combatants have announced dozens of cease-fires in the past, only to resume fighting, said Andrew S. Natsios, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan.
The United States, which is spending $600 million a year for humanitarian aid in Darfur, might impose sanctions on the rebels or Sudan's government if either side resumes fighting, Natsios said.
"We are prepared . . . to hold all parties to their cease-fire agreement," he told delegates.
Negotiators and rebels at the talks said they hoped that more prominent rebel leaders would join the talks in coming days, when the negotiations are to break into smaller workshops on security and other issues.
Natsios said it would take "not years, but months" to reach any agreement.
