UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The senior United Nations envoy for Sudan Monday called on parties in the Darfur conflict to settle their political differences.
Jan Pronk, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative, returned to Khartoum Monday after a three-day visit to Abuja, Nigeria, where African Union mediators are conducting Darfur peace negotiations.
In his own meetings with representatives of the Sudanese government and Darfur's rebel groups, Pronk sought ways to advance the talks, according to the chief spokesman at U.N. headquarters in New York.
The envoy also met with Nigerian President and AU Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo and "strongly recommended" the parties take advantage of attention on Darfur, spokesman Fred Eckhard said. More than 1.65 million people have been forced to leave their homes and tens of thousands of people have been killed or have died of hunger or disease in the western Darfur region.,
The latest round of AU-mediated talks began on Friday after a previous round of negotiations stalled on political issues.
