"SERIOUS SETBACK"
The talks are the first attempt to gather Darfur rebels and the government around a negotiating table since 2006 when the African Union mediated Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.
Signed by only one rebel faction, the resulting deal had little support among the 2 million Darfuris trapped in displacement camps.
Rather than bring peace, it triggered fresh violence, as rebels split into more than a dozen factions, some preying on civilians, aid workers and AU troops sent to the region to quell the violence but unable to protect themselves.
International experts say 200,000 people have died since rebels rose up against the government in 2003, charging it with neglect. The Sudanese government says the Western media exaggerates the crisis and only 9,000 people have died.
Analysts have warned that without full rebel representation the Libya talks would go the way of the Abuja deal.
Rebel leaders in Libya said those who stayed away were the founders of groups that had split and were now angry at seeing their former deputies taking part in the talks as their equals.
Talks host Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said the conflict in Darfur was a war between tribes and there were limits to the usefulness of foreigners. "Intervention by outsiders will only fan the flames of conflict," he said.
Khartoum agreed in July to allow a hybrid force of 26,000 U.N.-AU troops to deploy in Sudan to replace and absorb some 7,000 AU peacekeepers in western Sudan.
That deployment is expected to begin by year-end but, without a deal, some nations might be loath to commit troops.
