TRIPOLI: Efforts to end the four-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region by paving the way for new talks between Khartoum and fragmented rebel groups took a step forward on Monday at a meeting of key players in Libya.

International envoys and rebel groups which failed to sign up to a May 2006 peace deal will meet next month to fix a date and venue for the start of negotiations between the warring sides, according to a final statement from the two-day conference organised by the United Nations and the African Union.The talks will take place in Arusha, Tanzania, between August 3 and 5, according to the statement from the Tripoli conference, the latest bid to find ways to end a civil war that has killed an estimated 200,000 people since 2003.

“We are very happy that this meeting has concluded with a strong message of peace and beginning of negotiations,” said the UN envoy for Sudan, Jan Eliasson.

“I think we now see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the moment of truth and for serious preparations for negotiations,” he said. “We have established very strongly the AU/UN lead in this process.” Eliasson’s comments were echoed by the African Union’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, Said Djinnit, who told the news agency: “I think that the month of September will be crucial for Darfur.”

Djinnit said the Tripoli conference had highlighted the need to move rapidly towards negotiations between the Sudanese government and rebel movements that did not sign the Abuja peace agreement in 2006.—AFP