African Union (AU) mediators met with Sudanese officials in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, on Sunday before crucial talks on restoring security in Sudan's war-torn western Darfur region.
 
But a similar meeting scheduled to be held with the two rebel groups from Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), later on Sunday was postponed at the rebels' request.

The rebels asked for the rescheduling of the meeting for Monday morning because they are yet to finish consultations on an AU draft protocol on the security matter, SLM spokesman Abdelhafiz Mustatapha Musa said.

AU spokesman Assane Ba confirmed that the meeting would take place on Monday morning, after which the mediators will hold a joint session on the security issue with both parties.

On Saturday, the AU presented to the government and the two rebel groups a draft agreement on security, crucial to resolving the crisis.

The talks had been adjourned to Sunday after both parties asked for more time to study the proposals.

The head of the Sudanese government delegation to the talks, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa, said he hoped the AU-sponsored talks to be held in Abuja would be successful.

The talks on Darfur got off to a difficult start on Aug. 25, with the two rebel groups refusing to demobilize their forces ahead of a comprehensive political settlement.

Rebel leaders have also said they oppose government proposals to pull back their fighters to designated camps, alleging that this would make them open targets for air attacks.

Meanwhile, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot has postponed a trip to Sudan this week for discussions on the Darfur crisis, because the Sudanese president and foreign minister are likely not to be in Sudan at that time.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2004)