ABUJA (AFP) - African Union-brokered peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel leaders bogged down again, barely 10 minutes after delegates resumed negotiations following a three-day pause.
Mediators adjourned the session in the Nigerian capital Abuja after hearing from the warring parties that there had been no change in their positions since Friday's breakdown in dialogue, delegates said.
The talks were adjourned Friday after the Sudanese government rejected an AU plan to restore security in the western region of Darfur, where a 19-month conflict has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives and forced 1.4 million from their homes.
Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo, the current AU head, later met in his office with government and rebel delegations for two hours but failed to extract a compromise on disarmament and security, the key issues which have bogged down the talks for several days now, delegates told AFP.
"I can't say the deadlock is broken. We met with President Obasanjo and we stated very clearly our position", the chief negotiator of rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Mohammed Tugod, said after the meeting.
Sudan's deputy foreign minister Najeib Abdelwahab, who is attending the Abuja talks, blamed the United States for the deadlock.
Last week US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Sudan's Arab-led regime was guilty of "genocide" following their bloody crackdown on the black African minority tribes suspected of supporting Darfur's rebels.
"The negotiations have been very much undermined by Mr Powell's declaration, which led our brothers (the rebels) to stay very firmly on their positions," Abdelwahab told reporters at Abuja's International Conference Centre.
"The United States needs to inject new blood into these negotiations by sending the right signals to our brothers who are using this statement not to move forward in the talks," said Abdelwahab.
He said both sides and the mediators were waiting to see what steps the UN Security Council would take on Darfur.
The United States on Tuesday put forward a new draft UN resolution threatening sanctions on Sudan's oil industry if the government does not end the bloodshed in Darfur.
The draft maintains the sanctions threat that had been opposed by several council nations when a first version was circulated last week. But it now says only that the council will "consider" them if Sudan does not comply.
The resolution also calls for beefing up a force from the African Union already on the ground to monitor a fragile ceasefire between Sudan and the rebels.
"Our hope is that the vote will come towards the end of this week," said US ambassador John Danforth just before the draft was circulated.
Rebel delegates are frustrated that Khartoum has thus far refused to enter into negotiations on a political settlement for Darfur, concentrating instead on security measures and demanding the disarmament of its opponents.
But Abduljabbar Dofa, a spokesman for the second rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said that his group was not about to abandon the process.
"We have no intention of leaving the talks. We are ready to continue negotiations. You see us here to continue the dialogue," he told reporters.
Earlier another SLM spokesman had told AFP by telephone from London that the government's intransigence could force the rebels to quit the table.
Meanwhile, a delegation from Amnesty International described the situation in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur as unacceptable, ahead of a journey to the region to investigate alleged human rights abuses there.
The fact-finding mission, headed by Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan, hopes to establish what the situation is for uprooted civilians on the ground, as well as confirm Khartoum's claims that the security situation in the 19-month conflict has improved.
The United Nations calls the situation in Darfur the world's worst current humanitarian crisis, estimating that some 1.4 million people have been displaced from their homes, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have been killed and a further 180,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad.
"What is happening in Darfur is unacceptable in terms of the loss of lives, displacement and human rights violations, such as rape, which are being perpetrated there and the culprits unpunished," Amnesty spokesman Samkelo Mokhine told AFP.
During talks with Amnesty in Khartoum on Tuesday, Interior Minister Abdul Rahim Hussein said he had deployed additional forces to the region to ensure the safety of civilians, said Mokhine.
The government claims that tens of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees have voluntarily returned to their homes in recent months, following an improvement in the security situation.
"That's one of the things that we will be verifying," when the delegation travels to Darfur on Wednesday, said Mokhine.
Government officials have assured the team it can go anywhere it wants, but Amnesty says local officials in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, would not allow an advance delegation access to certain areas.
Since black African rebels began an uprising against the Arabic-speaking Sudanese government in February last year, Khartoum and a proxy militia force have been accused of atrocities and scorched-earth tactics against Darfur's population, leading to a massive refugee and humanitarian crisis.
The Sudanese government has rejected a genocide accusation made by Washington as grandstanding by the US administration ahead of the November presidential election.