African Union mediators are drafting new security proposals in an effort to end an impasse in peace talks between the Sudanese govt and rebels from the western Darfur region, officials said on Tuesday.

Mediators held separate meetings with representatives of the Sudanese government and leaders of Darfur's two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), to harmonize the positions of the two parties. Full talks would restart on Wednesday.

The government and the rebels still have differences on key security issues,  including disarming warring factions, despite twoweeks of AU-brokered talks designed to resolve the Darfur crisis.

The Darfur rebels are demanding power and wealth sharing measures that echo those sought by other rebels in the south of the oil-producing state.

The rebels began their uprising in February 2003 after years oflow-level fighting between mainly African farmers and Arab nomads over scarce resources.

Source: Xinhua