KHARTOUM - Darfur peace talks will be a "moment of truth" to stop the chaotic violence plaguing Sudan's west, U.N. envoy Jan Eliasson said on Thursday.
He urged all of the more than a dozen fractured Darfur rebel factions to attend the talks due to start in Libya on Oct. 27 and said an urgent ceasefire would be the priority.
"The first very concrete step ... is that we will go for and hopefully achieve a credible cessation of hostilities," Eliasson told reporters in Khartoum, adding that invites to most rebel groups would be sent for the first stage of talks.
"I find the situation on the ground ... deeply alarming. The military escalation is a great source of concern."
Some rebel leaders have said they will not go unless only one delegation from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and one from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) talks with Khartoum.
But with more than a dozen factions emerging since last year's peace deal, signed by only group, that is unlikely to happen.
Darfur envoy Eliasson said preconditions were dangerous.
"To miss this opportunity is a tragedy -- this is the moment of truth," he said.
"Haven't we seen enough violence and hopelessness? Don't we see what is happening to the social fabric of Darfur ... torn apart completely -- is this what we want to perpetuate?"
Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, the SLA founder with huge popular support, said he would not attend the talks until a U.N. force was deployed to stem the violence, which has exploded with civilians, African Union peacekeepers, militias and rebels caught up in clashes in southern Darfur with dozens killed.
On Thursday, the only rebel faction to sign the 2006 deal called for an international investigation into an attack on their forces in Muhajiriya, South Darfur, where at least 45 were killed and dozens injured.
The SLA blames Sudan's army for the attack, although it has denied any involvement.
