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Sudan Darfur crisis talks deadlocked after 2 weeks

ABUJA, Nigeria -- Peace talks on Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region are deadlocked, one mediator said Monday, as the African Union's chief appealed to the Sudanese government and rebels to compromise.

The two-week-old talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja have failed to move past the crucial question of disarming -- with rebels saying they will lay down their guns only after Sudan's pro-government militia, the Janjaweed, does so.

"It appears deadlocked, as the two sides are holding to their hard-line positions," Brig. Gen. Festus Okwonko, a mediator and commander of the African Union's cease-fire monitoring troops in Darfur, told reporters.

Negotiations are aimed at ending a 19-month-conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur that has killed tens of thousands and driven an estimated 1.2 million civilians from their homes. The Janjaweed are accused of carrying out atrocities in attacks on non-Arab African villages. The United Nations calls it the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The two rebel movements -- the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice, Equity Movement -- draw their support from African tribes in the region. The Sudanese government is accused of backing the Janjaweed in an effort to stamp out the rebellion, a charge Khartoum denies.

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