Khartoum, Sudan – The U.N. chief and the Sudanese president announced plans Thursday for a conference next month on ending the conflict in Darfur, but the main rebel factions split over taking part in Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s peace effort.
A joint communique after the leaders’ meeting said the United Nations and the African Union, which have led efforts to get the splintered rebel movements into peace talks with Sudan’s government, would issue the invitations to talks set to begin Oct. 27 in Libya.
One rebel faction already responded positively to news of the peace conference, but the leader of the largest movement rejected the proposal.
Before that development, Ban emerged from his meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with an upbeat tone.
“We have taken a big step toward our shared goal of bringing peace to Darfur and looking forward to the long-term development of Sudan,” Ban said at a news conference. “We are at a new beginning. Let us seize this moment together.”
He stressed the importance of resolving the nearly five-year conflict between rebels from ethnic African farming villages and the Arab-dominated government. The war has killed more than 200,000 people and chased 2.5 million from their homes in Sudan’s vast western region.
![Newspaper advertisement offering reward for the return of an escaped man to his oppressors, Princess Anne, Maryland, April 1, 1861. Text reads: “0 Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber on Tuesday Morning, 26th Ultimo [last month], My negro boy calling himself Severn Black. The said negro is about 5 feet six inches in height, chesnut color, has a scar on his upperlip, downcast countenance when spoken to, blink-eyed, showing a great deal of white, long bushy hair, is about twenty years old, had on when he lefta [sic] blue fustian Jacket, pantaloons of a greyish color, blue striped shirt, a Black slouch hat and shoes nearly worn out. The above reward will be paid by me for the apprehension and delivery of the said negro in the county jail at Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland. April 1, 1861. Richard E. Snelling. Somerset Herald Print, Princess Anne, Md.’ The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 obliged citizens and lawmen of free zones to return escaped men to those whom they fled. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)](/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/GettyImages-53262583-16x9-1.jpg?w=620 "GettyImages-53262583-16x9-1")
