The third round of peace talks aimed at ending a 22-month-old crisis in Sudan's troubled Darfur region reopened in Nigerian capital Abuja on Saturday with both sides hoping for a lasting political settlement.

"I'm very optimistic about this meeting. I'm sure we're going to achieve a lot this time because all the parties are ready for peace," spokesman for the government delegation, Ibrahim Mohammed

Ibrahim, told reporters, after a brief opening ceremony.

Both the Khartoum government and the rebel groups have been trading accusations over the violations of the deals on security and humanitarian aid, reached in the last round of the African Union-sponsored talks that ended on Nov. 10.

The continued fighting made UN Special Representative for Sudan Jan Pronk question what could be achieved in Abuja.

"This round of negotiations ... is headed for failure if the parties do not show restraint," Pronk said in a statement released Thursday.

And African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare called Friday the violations "serious and unacceptable" and urged both sides to put an immediate end to all hostilities.

Despite this, one of the main two rebels in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), echoed Saturday in Abuja Ibrahim's optimism at reaching a peace deal.

"I'm actually optimistic we can arrive at something. For sure, we're going to focus on political issues so that we can tackle the root of the problem in Darfur," said Ahmed Tugod, spokesman for the JEM.

The third round of talks, also likely to be last one, was initially scheduled for Friday but delayed by one day due to "some logistic problems" that led to the failure of the arrival of mediators and some rebels in Darfur.

Delegates said they would regather Sunday afternoon after the opening ceremony ended.

The talks in Abuja are aimed at finding a peace deal to the conflict in Darfur, which the United Nations described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Locked in the conflict are the two rebel groups, the JEM and the Sudanese Liberation Movement, who are at war with government forces said to be represented by Janjaweed militia since February 2003.

The Sudanese government has however repeatedly distanced itself from the militia.

Thousands were reportedly killed and one million others displaced in Darfur as a result of the conflict.

Around 900 AU troops and monitors are now on the ground, although more than 3,000 have been pledged. The US-based group Human Rights Watch Thursday called for their immediate deployment with an enlarged mandate to protect civilians.

Source: Xinhua