UNITED NATIONS — U.N. negotiators are scrambling to preserve upcoming Darfur peace talks threatened by escalating violence in the troubled region and the unraveling of a separate political accord that ended two decades of civil war in Sudan's south.
The U.N. envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, met Thursday with warring rebel groups that have launched recent attacks in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, asking them to end the bloodshed and agree to a cease-fire for Oct. 27 talks.
He gave the same message to Sudan's government Wednesday, after claims that in the southern part of Darfur this week the country's army had killed 45 rebel fighters in Muhajeria. Government troops had earlier razed the town of Haskanita -- killing about 100 civilians -- in apparent retaliation for an attack on a nearby peacekeeping base, rebel leaders said.
"It is a troubling development, but we must not be provoked," Eliasson said in a telephone interview from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. "There are those who want to hurt the peace process, but we must keep cool and stay the course."
Eliasson and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, have been working for 10 months to corral the groups fighting in Darfur for peace talks. The 4 1/2 -year conflict between the government, its allied militias and rebels has led to more than 200,000 deaths and the displacement of 2.5 million people, a toll that has caused worldwide alarm and been labeled genocide by President Bush.
An increase in violence had been expected as the factions jockey for last-minute gains before the peace talks, but the intensity of attacks in recent weeks has startled veteran diplomats and even Sudan's rebel leaders, who publicly disavowed violence attributed to their factions.
"Sometimes before crucial negotiations start there's a positioning going on both politically and militarily," Eliasson said from Khartoum. "But I find this military escalation alarming. Using violence to make political gains is not a way to work in this situation when we're preparing for peace talks."
The unprecedented attack on the African Union base near Haskanita on Sept. 29 shocked observers, and highlighted how uncontrolled and powerful the rebel groups have become -- as well as the vulnerability of the African peacekeeping forces trying to stem the fighting.
