Sudanese Rebels Storm Out During U.S. Official's Trip

NAOROBI, Kenya, Nov. 8, 2005 — -- I've never witnessed a diplomatic meltdown quite like this one.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick arrived at the Safari Park Hotel in Naorobi, Kenya, today for a meeting with anti-government rebels fighting the Sudanese government in Darfur. But just as the meeting was about to start, the rebels -- some of them outfitted in camouflage head scarves -- stormed out of the room, leaving Zoellick sitting alone at the negotiating table.

The problem: the rebels are so bitterly divided that rival leaders refused to be in the same room together.

Making matters worse, this all happened in full view of the television cameras, which had been allowed in for what was to be a quick photo op at the beginning of the meeting.

Did Zoellick just fly 15 hours from Washington to Africa for nothing? As the press scurried out to talk to the rival rebel factions, Zoellick calmly told his advisors to go out and tell the rebels to come back. If they don't, he said, "I'll draw my own conclusions about their intentions."

As his staff left the room, the deputy secretary of state sat reviewing his notes, waiting patiently, silently, and alone.

After about 30 minutes, the rebels finally returned. When they did, a clearly frustrated Zoellick delivered a stern message:

"Look," he told the rebels, "at some point you have to take responsibility for your own people. While you are bickering, people are dying."

Such are the challenges of dealing with the crisis in Darfur, perhaps the greatest man-made humanitarian disasters in the world today.

More than 200,000 people have been killed since the violence erupted two years ago. Two million people have been forced from their homes and into refugee camps. Zoellick believes the only way to resolve the problem is to get a peace deal between the Sudanese government and the rebel groups it is fighting in Darfur.

But the rebels are too busy fighting among themselves to make peace with the government.

Next up: Zoellick meets with top officials of the Sudanese government in Khartoum, which is blamed for continuing to attack unarmed civilians in its effort to defeat those same rebels that walked out on Zoellick today.

The last senior U.S. official to visit Sudan was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. During her visit in July, Rice witnessed President Bashir's security agents rough up Rice's own staff and the traveling press. Diplomacy in Sudan.

Zoellick is making his forth trip to Sudan in an effort to find a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur that has killed more than 200,000 people and forced another two million from their homes and into refugee camps. ABC News is the only television network traveling with Zoellick.