The Sudanese government and two rebel groups battling it in the troubled region of Darfur have agreed to hold talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja later this month, the African Union said Sunday. In a press statement from its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the AU said Khartoum, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement have said the will attend the negotiations, scheduled to take place on August 23. The agreement to talk came after lobbying by the AU chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the chairman of the AU commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, said the statement.
