Sudan minister vows to defeat rebels after fruitless talks

Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's defence minister said Friday a new army offensive would defeat rebels in the war-torn Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions, days after peace talks in Addis Ababa ended without result.

Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein said the campaign "will put an end to the insurgency on all fronts," state news agency SUNA reported him as saying.

Hussein was addressing troops near the town of Nyala in the Darfur region, where the government has been battling insurgents since 2003.

Khartoum is also struggling to quash an insurrection in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Hussein did not say if the operation had already started.

Peace talks between the government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North, which operates in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, ended without result on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council said Thursday it regretted the "absence of a final agreement, and urged both sides to participate in further negotiations in January.

Since the close of the African Union-mediated talks in Addis Ababa, there has been a rise in reports of violence in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Lodi said Thursday the movement's forces had captured two garrisons less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from South Kordofan capital Kadugli.

SPLM-N troops "inflicted heavy losses in men and equipment" on Khartoum's forces, Lodi said.

He gave no indication of SPLM-N casualties, and the Sudanese military could not be reached for comment Friday.

Fighting erupted in Blue Nile and South Kordofan in 2011 when former rebels from the SPLM-N took up arms against Khartoum, complaining of discrimination by Sudan's Arab-dominated government.