Darfur talks stall after rebels boycott

In the meantime, another rebel group called the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has taken steps to widen the war, moving out of Darfur into the neighboring state of Kordofan, attacking government positions, AU peacekeepers, and even kidnapping foreign oil workers at a Chinese-run oil field.

One JEM field commander, Abdel Aziz el-Nurk Ashr, told the BBC's Network Africa radio program, "The oil revenue is not coming for the benefit of the people of Sudan, but to kill our people in Darfur."

Few rebel leaders attend the talks

Only six of Darfur's rebel factions are attending the talks in Libya. The leader of the largest anti-Khartoum faction of the SLA, Abdul Wahid Mohammad Nur, says that his group will participate in talks with Khartoum only after there are guarantees for the safety of their people in Darfur. Once the hybrid peacekeeping force of the AU and UN – a force that could grow as large as 26,000 troops – is in place, then Mr. Nur will be ready to join talks.

"The National Congress Party [the ruling party in Khartoum] is a political organization that does not observe their agreements," says Pa'gan Amum, general secretary of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, in Juba. The SPLM fought a 20-year civil war with Khartoum before signing a peace agreement with Khartoum in 2004.

"Even though we have had a bad experience with the NCP, we encourage the Darfur rebel movements to negotiate," Mr. Amum says. "There is a danger that the conflict may spill out to the rest of the country.... That is why we must push for a quick agreement in Libya."

Several rebel leaders contacted by the Monitor were quite gloomy about the prospects of peace from the Libya talks.

Essam El-Haj said that his branch of the SLA was not participating because the government in Khartoum is not honest in its agreement. Jarel Nebe Abdel Kareem, of another SLA faction, blamed the UN for not giving enough time for the various rebel factions to come up with a common negotiating position against Khartoum.

"I don't think the conditions are conducive for talks," says Mr. de Waal.

He warns that recent attacks by JEM on oil facilities in Kordofan could actually prove more dangerous than the Darfur conflict itself.

"It has been clear for some time that JEM basically wants to expand the conflict to essentially bring down the government, and the best way to do that is to expand the conflict to Kordofan."

Like Darfuris, many citizens of Kordofan are disenchanted with the government in Khartoum, but unlike the Darfuris, the people of Kordofan have oil fields and feel that the benefits of the oil wealth are bypassing them.

"Kordofan is a tinderbox," says de Waal.

• Abdul Aziz Ibrahim contributed to this report from Khartoum and Juba, Sudan.

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