KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — A Sudanese political delegation will meet representatives of armed groups battling Khartoum to try to secure their participation in national dialogue talks, African Union chief mediator Thabo Mbeki said yesterday.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir announced the dialogue in January in a bid to end the country’s multiple crises, particularly the conflicts that have wracked its outlying regions.

A coordinating body for the talks would meet “the armed movements with a view to discussing… steps that should be taken to make sure that they are included in the national dialogue,” Mbeki said.

He was speaking in Khartoum after meeting representatives of the committee, which is made up of seven parties in the government and seven opposition parties taking part in the dialogue.

The committee is also prepared to hold talks with National Consensus Forces, a grouping of opposition parties who have rejected the dialogue, Mbeki said.

The AU signed an agreement in September with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, during which they committed to a peaceful end of Sudan’s conflicts and to a broad political dialogue.

The SRF is a coalition of rebels from Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.