Sudanese peace talks restart after rebel boycott as UN deadline expires

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2004

ABUJA (AFP) — Sudanese peace talks restarted here at the end of a one-day boycott called by rebel groups in protest at alleged government attacks on civilians, and as a UN deadline for action on the Darfur crisis expired.

Sudanese government envoys and their rebel foes in the Darfur region's 18-month-old civil conflict returned to the negotiating table just after 6.00 pm (1700 GMT), delegates told AFP at the conference venue in Abuja.

The talks had been halted for 24 hours after the insurgents staged a walkout to protest an alleged massacre by government forces in an ethnic minority community in southern Darfur, an attack which Khartoum denied.

Rebel negotiator Ahmed Mohammed Tugod of the Justice and Equality Movement confirmed that his side would return to...