Darfur negotiations stumble in Abuja

The current Sudan Darfur peace talks held in Abuja, Nigeria, had stumbled after divisions surfaced among the main rebel groups.

The Sudan Liberation Army and another group from Darfur rebels said on Tuesday they suspended the talks as an expression of the rejection to the nomination of Sudan for the Presidency of the African Union which sponsors the negotiations. But one of the two groups said that it will resume the negotiations after the African Union has chosen the President of the republic of Congo instead. The African Union had received criticism for nominating Sudan to head the Union.

On the other hand, al-Sharq Front (east) front announced that a round of talks with the Sudanese government that has been long waited for, and would have been held this month in Tripoli, was delayed again at the request of the Libyan government.

The al-Sharq Front was formed in 2005 from the alliance of al-Naja conference and the "Free Lions" and alleged it had launched its first attack against the Sudanese government in June 2005.

The chairman of the political committee in al-Shatq (East) Front, Abdullah Kona, said from the headquarters of the movement in Asmara, Eritrea, that the talks will start on February 7th.

Both, the Sudan's front and the Sudanese government were supposed to hold talks in November and December, 2005. Kona said that the security condition in East Sudan permits now the launching of the talks after the UN peace keeping force members were deployed in Hamshkorib this week, though the front accused the government earlier this month of attacking one of its camps in the region.