African Union (AU) chair Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo speaks during a news conference in Abidjan, capital of Cote d'Ivoire, April 8, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

LAGOS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- African Union (AU) Chairman Denis Sassou-Nguesso met representatives of Sudan's government and rebels separately from Saturday night till Sunday morning to push for a breakthrough in the long-running Darfur negotiations.

    Sassou-Nguesso, who is also the president of the Republic of the Congo, met the warring parties, first the government, then the Darfur rebels, with his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and AU special envoy Salim Ahmed Salim in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

    "We have made some progress. The vice president is staying to make contacts with other delegations and international group," said Majzoub al-Khalifa, head of the Sudanese government delegation, at the end of a four-hour meeting with the AU chairman.

    The negotiations, in their seventh round, had made slow progress in the past two years but a resolution adopted by the AU Peace and Security Council on March 10 called for the warring parties to reach a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of April.

    "That's why we are pushing now," Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the AU mediation team on the conflict in Darfur told Xinhua by phone earlier. "The remaining issues are power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements."

    In spite of the signing of a ceasefire agreement on April 8, 2004, the insecurity reigns and continued fighting never stopped in Darfur. On Thursday, AU negotiator Sam Ibok introduced a revised version of the proposed enhanced ceasefire agreement in the hope that it "effectively addresses the grey areas" in the previous one.

    "It would create the confidence necessary for the parties to move on to tackle the outstanding important issues such as ... the status of the forces, thus paving the way for the conclusion of a comprehensive ceasefire agreement," an AU statement quoted Ibok assaying.

    In January, the AU said it could not afford a 7,800-strong African force which was deployed in Darfur since 2004, and suggested a UN takeover of the mission. Sudan has opposed to the proposal, saying that it would support the transition to the United Nations after a deal has been reached with all the Darfur rebels.

    A plenary meeting is scheduled for Sunday to consider the revised document and by the middle of the present month, the AU mediation hopes to table a package of proposals on the power and wealth sharing as well as the security arrangements commissions, the AU statement said.

    Darfur rebels took up arms against Khartoum in February 2003, accusing the government of negligence. Many people have been killed in the conflict and more displaced. Enditem