UN Special Representative Jan Pronk is heading on Tuesday to Darfur in his first visit to the area since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement by the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

Pronk's three-day visit to Darfur will involve extensive discussions with top local government officials, community and tribal leaders and commanders of rebel movements on the peace deal signed in Abuja, Dujarric told reporter at the UN headquarters in New York.

The envoy will renew attempts he made during the marathon mediation efforts in the Nigerian capital city to prod rebel leaders who failed to sign in Abuja into joining the peace process, the spokesman added.

After returning from Darfur, Pronk intends to travel to Addis Ababa to attend a meeting of the African Union's Peace and Security Council next Monday which will discuss the future of the Union's protection force in Darfur following the Abuja breakthrough, Dujarric noted.

Source: Xinhua