The Sudanese government and rebels from the troubled Darfur region met briefly Sunday in Nigerian capital Abuja, a day after quarrels over which countries should appear as mediators at their negotiations stalled the talks.

Salim Ahmed Salim, chief mediator of the African Union, briefed at the meeting both sides on a planned agenda of the last round of talks held in Abuja, which resumed Friday.

The two sides have disagreed over the presence of Eritrea and Chad and declined to attend a scheduled meeting Saturday.

The Sudanese government said Sunday it still objected to the inclusion of Eritrea among the mediators at the peace talks.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail in a statement said Eritrea is neither a neutral in the Darfur crisis, nor a neighbor of Darfur like Chad, Libya and Egypt but purely the choice of the Darfur rebels.

The Darfur rebels, however, did not want Chad to be involved as it was accused of siding with the Sudanese government.

The Darfur conflict, which flared up in early 2003, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and driven more than one million others from their homes.

The African Union has brokered a shaky ceasefire and struggled to find a political solution through three previous rounds of talks, which however failed to get substantial agreements.

This time, although both the government and the rebels said they were optimistic about the talks, they have so far failed to agree on the agenda of the negotiations.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2005)