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 SIRTE, Libya (AP) - Key rebel leaders in Sudan's Darfur region called Monday for a peace conference to be canceled, but U.N. and African mediators bid for more time in hopes of drawing the insurgents into the stalled talks.
The two main rebel chiefs have boycotted the U.N. and African Union-brokered conference since it began in this Libyan city Saturday, saying they won't sit alongside minor rebel factions that they describe as stooges of the Sudanese government.
Their rejection of the meeting has blocked long-sought direct negotiations between rebels and Sudan's government on bringing peace to Darfur, a region where more than 200,000 people have died in nearly five years of conflict.
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