Sudan's VP Taha meets SLA leaders Minawi and Nur

The UN News Centre's near verbatim transcript of a press briefing by Jan Pronk, UN special envoy for Sudan, 17 August 2005, explains the Darfur rebels are flown to the peace talks and sleep at the Hilton in Abuja, Nigeria.



Photos: The Hilton Hotel, Abuja is a 45 minute drive from the airport and offers ultra modern facilities. The Zuma Rock and Gurara Waterfalls are only a short drive away.



AP report says on Tuesday 11 April, 2006 Sudan's Second Vice-President, Ali Osman Taha, met one of the leaders of Darfur rebel group SLM, Mani Arkoi Minawi, at his residence in the Hilton Hotel, Abuja.



Photo: Ali Osman Taha (Sudan Watch archive 14 Mar 2006)

The meeting was a follow-up to one held in Tripoli, Libya last March. Taha had told Minawi that what they discussed in Tripoli had received full interest from the Sudanese leadership.



Photo: Meni Minawi Arkowri (Sudan Watch archive 14 Mar 2006)

On Sunday 9 April, 2006 Taha met Abdelwhaed al-Nur the leader of the other faction of the SLM



Photo: Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur attends at the Darfur peace talks in Abuja Feb 4, 2006. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)

On Monday April 10, 2006, the African Union's chief mediator for the Darfur peace talks, Salim Ahmed Salim, met with Taha in Addis Ababa to review the outcome of the high-level consultations which took place over the weekend in Abuja.



Photo: Salim Ahmed Salim, special envoy on the Darfur talks addresses the gathering at the venue of the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, Oct. 3 2005 when the talks entered the final phase



The Hilton Hotel, Abuja, pictured here, has 670 rooms and suites and is set in beautiful landscape grounds, less than one kilometre from the Ministries and Embassies.



Photo: A general view of a Sudanese internally displaced people camp housing over 730 families, December 3, 2005. Darfur peace talks in Abuja have dragged on for two years. Fighting in Darfur began three years ago.