HOPES that talks to bring peace to Darfur would resume this month have faded, amid continuing violations of the ceasefire by pro-government militias and splits in the rebel movements, according to diplomats and analysts. Leaders of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA), one of the two rebel factions, are also voicing suspicions of the African Union’s role both as a mediator and in running a mission of 2,000 ceasefire monitors in the Sudanese province.

They say it is neither impartial nor competent enough to bring peace in a conflict where 180,000 people have died in the past year and a half. “We never hear any statement from the AU about violations of human rights, ethnic cleansing or genocide,” Minni Arkoi Minawi, the SLA’s secretary general, told British newspaper the Guardian. “The Sudan government is part of the AU.” He said the government had occupied more areas since last November, when the first rounds of AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, ended.

“The AU should include other parties at the Abuja talks and on the ground to monitor the ceasefire,” Mr Minawi said. “On its own the AU does not have enough experience. We want other parties to join them: the United Nations, the United States and the European Union”.

At the first rounds of talks in Abuja, Sudan and the rebels agreed on humanitarian and security protocols. Discussions were due to resume this month to look at rebel demands for power and wealth-sharing and greater autonomy.

The smaller and more radical of the two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, recently added a demand that is threatening the timing of new peace talks. Under the slogan “justice before peace”, it is refusing to attend until there are trials of leaders of the pro-government militias who have been accused of killing, raping and displacing tens of thousands of Darfurians.

The JEM’s president, Khalil Ibrahim, said at his headquarters in Eritrea: “Our position is quite clear. We are not going to resume any peace talks with this government unless the prosecution process starts.”

A UN-appointed commission of inquiry has given the secretary general, Kofi Annan, a sealed list of 51 people suspected of war crimes in Darfur, although it stopped short of agreeing with an American declaration that genocide had taken place. But the security council is divided over whether to refer the accused to the international criminal court, as the commission recommends.

Britain has contacts with both rebel movements and has been urging them not to make the resumption of peace talks conditional on trials. “The priority is to have the ceasefire implemented,” a Whitehall official said on Sunday.

The United Nations has blamed the rebels for several ceasefire violations, including shooting at AU monitors’ vehicles and UN helicopters.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.