ARUSHA, Tanzania, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Darfur rebel factions began arriving in Tanzania on Friday for U.N.-AU sponsored negotiations aimed at reconciling their differences ahead of peace talks with the Sudanese government.

The talks to end the 4-year-old conflict in western Sudan have taken on a new importance since the U.N. Security Council decided on Tuesday to approve the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops and police to stem the bloodshed in Darfur.

At the African Union-United Nations sponsored talks in the Tanzanian resort town of Arusha, the rebels are due to try and work out a single negotiating position for peace talks with the government.

It should also produce a date and venue for the talks.

Darfur rebels have split into about a dozen groups. U.N. officials said only one or two rebel representatives had arrived in Arusha by Thursday and that most were not expected to arrive until Friday afternoon.

That meant no real talks would get under way until Saturday at the earliest, said the officials.

CONFLICT

The conflict erupted in early 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Khartoum government, which they accused of neglecting their area.

The government responded by arming mostly Arab militias known as Janjaweed to attack the rebels.

Independent experts say 200,000 people have died as a result of the conflict and 2.5 million have been displaced. Sudan says only 9,000 have been killed.

A May 2006 peace agreement with the government was signed by only one rebel negotiating faction, and analysts say the failure to win support for that deal from the other rebels undermined it within days of its signing.

Sudan has indicated it may give way on what analysts say could be a key to unifying rebel combat commanders with their political counterparts.

Khartoum said on Wednesday it would consider releasing a rebel humanitarian aid coordinator, Suleiman Jamous, after the talks start.

The elderly rebel from the Sudan Liberation Army is widely credited with helping to prevent violence against aid workers.

Jamous has said he can bring the combat commanders to the bargaining table if he can attend the talks, and analysts say he is the best hope of merging the political and military sides -- without which there is little chance of success.

A large rebel faction said on Thursday it would not attend the talks unless Jamous was released first.

Already, Sudan Liberation Movement leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur has refused to attend the talks.

Though he has little military power, Nur's opinion carries significant weight among Darfuris and analysts say his blessing of any peace initiative is crucial to its success.

Is this article useful to you?