Military

24 August 2004 – The United Nations is taking part in talks in Nigeria between the Sudanese Government and two rebel groups from the war-torn Darfur region in a bid to resolve the conflict that has created what has been widely described as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis.

Mohamed Sahnoun, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Africa, is representing the UN, which has observer status in the talks convened by the African Union (AU), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said today.

This week's meeting in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, is a follow-up to talks in Addis Ababa in June between Khartoum and the two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

Jan Pronk, the most senior UN envoy on Sudan, also discussed the situation in Darfur when he met today in Khartoum with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is visiting the country.

Mr. Pronk, who is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Sudan, and Mr. Straw focused on the upcoming mission to Darfur by a delegation from the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM) - a body set up by the UN and Khartoum after Mr. Annan visited the country in July.

More than 1.2 million people are internally displaced within Darfur and another 200,000 are refugees in neighbouring Chad, mainly because of attacks by Janjaweed militias, who are allied to the Sudanese Government forces fighting the rebel groups.

JIM was set up to make sure the UN and Khartoum implement their promises, especially Khartoum's pledges to disarm the Janjaweed and restore security for the vast population of vulnerable IDPs.

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