Darfur Peace Talks Stall

SIRTE, Libya — Crippled by the absence of Darfur rebel leaders, U.N.-brokered peace talks ground to a halt on Sunday, with officials saying there could be no key steps until the fighters decided how to negotiate with the Sudanese government.

The U.N. and African Union joint mediation team refused to say the conference was being adjourned, insisting instead that preliminary low-level talks were part of meeting's first phase before full-fledged negotiations could begin.

"Only after that period ... of approximately three weeks, will we go into substantial negotiations," Jan Eliasson, the United Nations' chief mediator for the peace conference, told The Associated Press.

No major Darfur rebel chiefs were present in the Libyan coastal town of Sirte for the opening of the talks on Saturday, dashing hopes that a quick peace agreement could be reached to end more than four years of fighting with the Sudanese government.

Though mediators cautioned that the Libyan talks were not ending because rebel leaders were absent, Liu Guijin, the special envoy from China —which has considerable leverage on Sudan's government— said the peace conference would likely be suspended within a few days to allow for more constructive peace talks later.

"The adjournment is not a sign of failure. It's a preparation of other steps," Liu told the AP.