World Bulletin / News Desk

The African Union (A.U.) Peace and Security Council will hold an urgent Monday meeting to discuss recent developments in Darfur peace talks between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), an African diplomat told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Chief A.U. negotiator Thabo Mbeki took the issue to the council earlier this week after Ethiopia-hosted peace talks hit a snag.

The African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), which is mediating the talks, announced on Sunday that negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N had been suspended.

According to the source, the Sudanese government had wanted talks to focus on the situation in Sudan's Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, while the SPLM-N had wanted to discuss elections, democracy, Sudanese "identity" and related issues.

Outlawed by Khartoum, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against the Sudanese government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states since 2011.

The movement is made up of fighters who sided with the south during Sudan's two-decade-long civil war, which ended with a 2005 peace treaty that opened the door for South Sudan's independence in 2011.

Since the latest conflict began, some 1.2 million people have been internally displaced or otherwise severely affected, according UN figures.

Nearly 240,000 Sudanese refugees are believed to have fled the conflict to neighboring countries.