by Joel Olatunde Agoi
ABUJA, Sept 10 (AFP) - Rebel leaders from Sudan's Darfur region called on Thursday on Nigeria to intervene and kickstart African Union-sponsored talks on the crisis in the west of Sudan, which stalled again when Khartoum rejected proposals on security and disarmament.
The talks taking place in the Nigerian capital are aimed at resolving the Darfur crisis which has killed an estimated 50,000 people and forced another 1.4 million to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
In three weeks, the talks have made little headway.
"We want President Olusegun Obasanjo to intervene so that we can make progress," spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdelhafiz Mustafa Musa told AFP before the beginning of a new plenary session.
"When the issue gets to this point, I think it is important for President Obasanjo as host and chairman of the AU to come in," he added.
The AU-brokered peace talks between the government of Sudan and the two rebel groups - the SLM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - hit another hurdle Wednesday when the Khartoum government rejected a draft protocol on the key issues of security and disarmament.
Khartoum rejected the proposals on the grounds that they "contradict obligations that we have already undertaken" and "glossed over four basic areas," including outlining the obligations of both sides to the conflict and clearly defining who was part of a feared, pro-Khartoum militia, the Janjaweed "so that the government will know how and where to disarm them."
The Janjaweed Arab militia was allegedly given a free rein by Khartoum to crack down on the rebels when they rose up against Khartoum in February last year, and are accused of conducting a scorched earth policy in Darfur and committing atrocities against the region's black African population.
The United States on Thursday said the situation in Darfur was a "genocide" committed by the Sudanese government and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed, and called for international inquiry into the atrocities.
Khartoum asked for the AU protocol to be amended, and on Thursday, Sudan's deputy foreign affairs minister Najeib Abdelwahab told AFP before entering the meeting room that the issues that caused the government delegation to reject the protocol had been dealt with in a new draft.
"We have been informed that our concerns have been accommodated in the new draft, and this has allayed our fears," he said.
He added that commitments the Sudanese government has made to the United Nations and the AU would not be ignored.
"What is on the ground here and what is presented to us on the table will constitute a good basis for discussion and dialogue," he said. "We are looking forward to adoption of a good security protocol."
The rebels have also asked for amendments to be made to the protocol.
Last week, the talks were deadlocked over how to solve the humanitarian problem in the crisis-ravaged Darfur region. An accord on the issue was finally struck following pressure from the AU and Nigerian mediators.
Delegates will now reconvene on Friday for "further consultations", JEM chief negotiator Mohammed Ahmed Tugod told AFP at the end of a plenary session here late Thursday.
"Each party restated its position on the draft presented by the AU. After sone deliberations, we decided to meet again tomorrow at 10:00 am (0900 GMT)," he added.