ABUJA, Aug 23 (AFP) - African Union-sponsored talks on the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur began Monday in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
"We are gathered here today to put our heads together, to rub minds together because as far as we are concerned in Africa, part of one of our houses is on fire," said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, current head of the African Union (AU), in a speech to open the one-day meeting.
"We are here because we are concerned. We are here because we care," he also said at the meeting, attended by representatives of the Khartoum government and rebel groups who have been fighting it and a proxy militia in the Darfur region for the past 18 months.
According to the United Nations, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have been killed and 1.4 million driven from their homes in Darfur since fighting started in February last year between rebel groups, and the Khartoum government and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed.
The head of the AU commission Alpha Oumar Konare, who is the former president of Mali as well as the Arab League`s Secretary General Amr Mussa, also addressed the opening session of the meeting, which is expected to go into closed-door session after the speeches.
Before the meeting formally opened, the head of the Sudan government`s delegation to the talks, Majzoub al-Khalifa, said there was no need for the AU to send a peacekeeping force to the troubled region, insisting Khartoum could handle the security situation.
Asked if Sudan will accept the proposed 2000-strong AU force, Al-Khalifa said: "I don`t think that is necessary."
Khartoum was attending the peace talks to begin a dialogue but "simultaneously we are going to disarm the rebel movement, the Janjaweed and other militias," he told journalists.
Sudan`s position on the deployment of AU peacekeepers apparently differs from that of Obasanjo, who late Sunday warned Sudan to move more quickly to disarm the feared Janjaweed militia, accused of massive human rights violations and atrocities, and called for AU peacekeepers to be sent to Darfur.
In a live radio and television interview, Obasanjo issued a stern warning to Khartoum over its alleged failure to rein in the notorious Arab gunmen.
African leaders hope the talks will kickstart a dialogue between the rebels and Khartoum and pave the way for a 2,000-strong AU peacekeeping force to deploy to Darfur to protect ceasefire monitors and aid deliveries.