UN Urges Darfur Rebels to Attend Peace Talks

The U.N. envoy for Darfur on Thursday urged a rebel leader to reverse his opposition to efforts by the U.N. and the African Union to launch peace talks with the government.

Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, leader of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, said in a statement sent to Reuters that his group would not attend a meeting of rebel leaders early next month in Tanzania organized by the U.N. and African Union.

"We need him on our side and I hope that we will see a positive interest from him," said Jan Eliasson, the U.N. Darfur envoy.

The aim of the meeting, to be held from August 3-5 in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, is to consult the rebels on when and where they might hold peace talks with the government, and to get them to agree on a common negotiating platform.

Some Darfur rebel factions have agreed to attend if invited, but Nur said he would not be part of that process.

Nur has few troops loyal to him, but he enjoys popular support in camps for displaced persons across Sudan's war-ravaged west.

International experts estimate 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in fighting in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region.

The Arusha talks are expected to pave the way for the launch of negotiations for comprehensive peace in Darfur.

"We count very much on him (Nur) playing a role in the negotiation process," Eliasson told a Khartoum news conference.

"This is an opportunity that must not be missed and we want to keep the door open to Abdel Wahed," he added.

Only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed a peace deal in May last year after intense international pressure. Since then the deal has been widely rejected by Darfuris and the rebels have split into more than a dozen factions.

Earlier this month, Eliasson warned that any party hindering the peace process could be penalized.

The European Union issued a similar warning in a statement obtained by Reuters and due to be adopted by European foreign ministers on Monday.

"The Council will consider any party failing to constructively engage in the peace process as an obstacle to peace and will promote appropriate further measures against them, notably in the U.N. framework," it said.

In May, the United States tightened sanctions against Sudan to press the government to end the bloodshed in Darfur.

Eliasson had said peace talks should begin by August. But on Thursday he said invitations to the talks would be sent by the end of next month.