Libyan Leader Moumar Khadafi (C), UN special envoy Jan Eliasson (R) and African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare attend the opening peace talks on Darfur in Libya's coastal city of Sirte on Oct. 27, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SIRTE, Libya, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government announced a unilateral ceasefire in Darfur on Saturday evening at the opening talks in Sirte, Libya to end a four-year-old conflict in the region.

    Sudan's presidential advisor Nafie Ali Nafie told the conference, which is kicked off late on Saturday, that "We announce a ceasefire from this moment, and we will respect it unilaterally."

    Ali Nafie, who called on the international community to impose sanctions on those who failed to comply with the ceasefire, also said that "We commit ourselves to respecting this unilateral ceasefire."

    Darfur mediators started negotiations in Libya's coastal city of Sirte to find answers to issues which were not resolved by the Abuja deal on Darfur peace, signed between the Sudanese government and the main faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement in Nigerian capital of Abuja on May 5, 2006.

    The African Union's special envoy for Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, Libyan leader Moumar Khadafi attended the opening.

    However, six rebel factions from the war-torn Darfur refused to take part in the conference because they feel "the Khartoum government does not have the necessary legitimacy to negotiate".

    The Darfur peace process has been deadlocked since the Abuja meeting, as other rebel groups had refused the Abuja peace agreement, claiming that it did not meet all their demands.

Sudan refuses to let in more countries to joint hybrid peacekeeping forces for Darfur

    KHARTOUM, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sudan refused on Saturday to let in more countries other than those agreed upon by a recent agreement with the United Nations and the African Union (AU) to join a hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur.

    Ali al-Sadig, the spokesman of the Sudanese foreign ministry, told the Sudanese Media Center (SMC) that according to the agreement, only the engineering units of the peacekeeping force would come from Thailand and China. Full story