Violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has rapidly increased as clashes between the Sudanese government forces and the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces mounted to put a new barrier before efforts of finding a lasting political settlement for the Darfur conflict.

Sudanese observers expressed concern that the recent security escalation in the region would cripple moves by the joint United Nations-African Union mediator aiming at resuming the peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur armed movements, hosted by the Qatari capital Doha.

"Certainly the tension in Darfur does not support the efforts to resume the political negotiations and I do not expect them to be resumed soon," Khalid Saad, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua.

"It is clear that both parties, the government and JEM, are seeking to strengthen their negotiating position and each party is seeking to put pressure on the other to force him give concessions on the negotiating table," he added.

He added that "the government wants to weaken the JEM and diminish its influence on the ground where the government sees that the time is appropriate to use the military force under the legitimacy it obtained through the recent elections."

Saad believed that components of negotiation are missing between the government and the JEM, saying that "therefore, the government is working to reach an agreement with the Liberation and Justice Movement as it constitutes the second military force in Darfur."

Sudanese political analyst Dr. Mahmoud Abdin, for his part, told Xinhua that the security escalation in Darfur put the joint mediation in a test.

"We will wait to see the ability of the joint mediation to put the negotiation train on its normal track under these heated atmospheres," he said.

Abdin affirmed the importance of involving all the Darfur factions in the Doha peace negotiations to reach real results, saying that "no party to Darfur conflict must be excluded, otherwise there will not be a real peace and a partial peace will be reproduced that will not last for long."