Egypt to host fresh Darfur talks

The two mediators are trying to get the Darfur talks restarted

Mediators trying to end the conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur are about to hold talks with regional states in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The United Nations and African Union envoys are to meet representatives from Egypt, Chad, Eritrea and Libya.

The mediators want a defined role from these countries in the Darfur talks.

Key Darfur rebel groups failed to appear at talks in Libya last month and have since been trying to forge a common position.

Another difficulty besetting the talks is the role of Sudan's neighbours, who all want a say in the outcome of the Darfur crisis, says the BBC World Service's Africa editor Martin Plaut.

The UN's Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim from the AU will travel to Khartoum and Darfur after Sharm el-Sheikh to meet with the Sudanese government and the rebel groups.

'Progress needed'

A plan to deploy a 26,000-strong joint AU-UN force has fallen behind schedule, undermining the attempts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

The AU-UN force set to arrive in Darfur in January is undermanned

"As political negotiators we also need progress on the peacekeeping side," Mr Eliasson told Reuters news agency.

Only 9,000 of the troops are expected to be on the ground by 1 January, the force's military commander said last week.

"We want to have a minimum presence on the ground to improve the situation... and also to monitor the cessation of hostilities agreement which we hope will come about at the beginning of the substantive talks," Mr Eliasson said.

Progress in the peace talks is urgently needed, says Martin Plaut, because while the talking continues the suffering intensifies in the Sudanese refugee camps.

More than two million people are living in refugee camps after fleeing more than four years of fighting in the region, and are vulnerable without peacekeepers.

About 200,000 people have died as a result of the conflict.