The tenth round of the AU-led peace talks between the Sudanese government, SPLA-North, and Darfuri armed movements kicked off Thursday at the Marriott Hotel in Addis Ababa.

The peace negotiations on Darfur were between the Khartoum government, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Arko Minawi.

Mohammed Tawakul, an expert on the affairs in the Horn of Africa, told Radio Tamazuj that the negotiations started with separate consultative meetings between the AU mediators and chief negotiators.

He pointed out that the separate meetings aimed to set agendas and look for ways how the negotiations could progress as well as review of all previous positions.

Tawakul revealed that the view points between the warring parties were still far apart, saying the armed movements insist that all movements should be involved in the opening session while the government demands two track negotiations.

Tawakul indicated that the government rejects the participation of political parties, referring to the leader of the National Umma Party al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, who is in Addis Ababa.