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ARUSHA - Darfur rebel factions meeting in Tanzania have reached a common negotiating position for final peace talks with the Sudanese government which they want to hold within three months, according to international mediators.
The rebel factions had been meeting at a luxury resort in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to try and bury past differences over the leadership and direction of the vast western region of Sudan.
UN envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson said the groups reached "a common platform" for negotiations, encompassing power and wealth sharing, security, land and humanitarian issues.
"They ... recommended that final talks should be held between two to three months from now," Eliasson told the closing session of the four-day meeting organised by the United Nations and the African Union (AU).
The rebels gave few details, saying several groups would stay in Arusha to work them out.
There was no immediate reaction from Khartoum. The government has said it is ready to talk to the rebels, though not to substantially change what was already agreed in a May 2006 peace deal with one rebel faction.
Since the 2006 peace deal, insurgents have split into more than a dozen groups with myriad demands.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the four-year conflict since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting Darfur. The government mobilised mostly Arab militias to quell the revolt.
- REUTERS
