Sudan urges rebels to talk

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudan's foreign minister on Wednesday urged all rebel groups to join the upcoming peace talks on Darfur and called Western campaigns to aid Darfur "vicious," hostile and unfair.

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Khartoum was complying with all international agreements and would abide by its unilateral cease-fire pledge when peace talks start in Tripoli, Libya, on October 27.

But he said Sudan had been the target of "hostile, ill-intentional campaigns" from abroad aimed at exploiting the crisis in Darfur to serve their "well-known agendas and plans," an obvious reference to Western advocacy groups criticizing Sudanese army actions in Darfur.

"This vicious campaign targeted the policies of the country and its stance, and has strived to exaggerate and distort facts and to violate the country's capabilities and the heritage and values of its people," Akol said.

The minister urged Darfur's myriad rebel groups to stop warfare and join the "peace march without delay." He called on the international community to take "firm measures" against those who refuse to participate or obstruct the talks.

Akol, however, did not mention the rebel attack in South Darfur on Saturday that killed 10 African Union peacekeepers and wounded 10 others.

The underequipped and underfinanced AU force of 7,000 from 26 countries in Darfur will be absorbed into a joint AU-United Nations force of up to 26,000 troops and police.

Four years of warfare, disease and hunger have caused an estimated 200,000 deaths and uprooted more than 2.5 million people from their homes, many having fled to arid camps.