ADDIS ABABA
The African Union (AU)'s chief mediator, Thabo Mbeki, announced Friday that the pan-African organization had failed to persuade the Sudanese government and Darfurian rebel movements to agree on an agenda for peace talks, leading to the indefinite postponement of negotiations.
"The Sudanese government delegation did not come with a mandate to negotiate on all the issues demanded by rebel groups," Mbeki, head of the AU's High Level Implementation Panel, said at a press conference.
Along with Mbeki, Jibril Ibrahim, president of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement, and Minni Arcua Minnawi, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement, also spoke at the press conference.
Also among attendees was Yasir Arman, head of a delegation representing the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which is fighting the government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions on the border with South Sudan.
According to Minnawi, Darfur rebel groups told political party representatives that the government was the "reason for the failure" of peace talks.
"We hold the government fully responsibility for the failure to make any progress in negotiations on the Darfur front," he added.
He also stressed the seriousness of the Darfur movements' desire to establish peace and stability in the Darfur region and their commitment to the negotiation process.
Ibrahim, for his part, said the government was not serious and was unprepared to proceed with negotiations.
Ibrahim said the government delegation had come with a limited mandate, which had led to the indefinite postponement of negotiations.
Since 2011, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against the Sudanese government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
Outlawed by Khartoum, the movement consists mainly of fighters who sided with the south during Sudan's decades-long civil war. That conflict ended with a 2005 peace treaty that paved the way for South Sudan's secession from Sudan six years later.
In recent weeks, the SPLM-N has engaged in Ethiopia-hosted peace talks with the Sudanese government, which have yet to yield any tangible results.
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