The AU High-Level Implementation Level (AUHIP) in Addis Ababa announced on Thursday morning that the peace talks between the Sudanese government and two main Darfur rebel groups have been postponed for an indefinite period.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) said the peace negotiations were broken off because the government refused to discuss a number of issues that the rebels insist on including in the agenda.

According to the rebels, the political and economic marginalisation of Darfur, the main cause for the outbreak of the war in Sudan’s western region in 2003, are to be addressed during the negotiations, as well as compensation for the people affected by the war, reconstruction of demolished villages, return of the displaced, and disarmament of militias.

The Sudanese government, however, is maintaining its stance that these issues have already been dealt with in the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, and that the peace talks with the two rebel movements should be restricted to a cease-fire and security arrangements.

The AUHIP team decided to suspend the peace talks after the UN Special Envoy for Sudan, Haile Menkerios, met with President Omar Al Bashir on Tuesday. Menkerios handed the President a message from AUHIP mediation chief, Thabo Mbeki. The contents of the message were not disclosed.

“Clearly Al Bashir did not respond positively to the message,” commented Minawi. “Yet, the intransigence of the Sudanese government is nothing new.”

“All the regime thinks off is a military solution. It is now preparing for what it calls the crucial winter campaign.”

Likewise, JEM’s chief negotiator Ahmed Tugod Lisan said that President Al Bashir personally for the collapse of the current round of Darfur negotiations. “The idea of solving the issue militarily is the regime’s sole option,” he said.

Photo: Rebel leaders at a press conference after AUHIP’s announcement