SUDAN: The leaders of Darfur's main rebel movement began gathering yesterday at an undisclosed location to try to heal rifts which threaten to plunge the region into further bloodshed.
Splits within the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) were blamed for deadlock at peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, which ended last week, and international observers believe that the rivalry is the cause of renewed violence in Sudan's remote western region.
About 800 SLA officials are expected at the talks in an attempt to agree a joint position for the peace negotiations, which are scheduled to resume next month.
The conference is due to elect an executive to determine policy and put an end to the disagreements within the leadership which have undermined an already shaky ceasefire.
Speaking before the meeting, SLA commander Ali Mokhtar commented: "We are all fighting for the same cause. These are just personality differences which we have to put behind us."
Differences between the SLA's two main leaders, secretary-general Minni Arcua Minnawi and president Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, have meant that the two rarely present a united front.
Minnawi spends much more time in the field, which has won him support with military commanders. Nur refused to attend the conference, but returned to Darfur this week for the first time in more than a year. Observers say this was because he feared losing his position on the ground.
The venue for the meeting was kept secret to ward off any attempt by Arab militias, known locally as janjaweed, to disrupt it.
"Any attack on the conference will be considered an attack on the peace process, and we will react harshly," said the organiser, Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim.
Darfur has been mired in bloodshed for 2½ years following an uprising by rebels from black African tribes who are seeking autonomy from the Arab government in Khartoum.
The government responded by sending Antonov planes to bomb rebel targets and unleashed the dreaded janjaweed militia on civilian villages to the horror of the international community. Some two million people have been forced from their homes and into camps, and about 180,000 have been killed.
A series of ceasefires and several rounds of peace talks had brought a degree of stability to Darfur, but the bloody waves of killing resumed last month. Food convoys have been looted by rebels, and vehicles have been commandeered.
"This is all about dissident commanders trying to win seats at the negotiating table in Abuja," said a UN security official in Khartoum.
African Union troops, who are monitoring the supposed ceasefire, have come under increasing attack.
Two Nigerian soldiers and two civilian contractors were killed in one ambush by rebels,
The UN has now removed non-essential staff from west Darfur, and most aid agencies are confined to the state capital, El Geneina, amid reports that NGOs were being targeted. - (Reuters)