A unified position for the fractious rebels was seen as another important step towards ending four and half years of deadly fighting in Darfur. The UN Security Council last week decided to deploy 26,000 peacekeepers there.

The rebel factions represented in the Arusha talks "presented a common platform on power sharing, wealth sharing, security arrangements, land and humanitarian issues, for the final negotiations," the eight groups said in a final statement.

"They also recommended that final talks should be held between two to three months from now," the statement said, adding that the venue had yet to be determined.

The rebel groups committed themselves to a raft of confidence-building measures ahead of the peace talks, including ensuring humanitarian access to Darfur, where the combined effect of war has left at least 200,000 dead since 2003, according to UN estimates.

The Sudanese government made no immediate comment on the rebel meeting and the statement.

The two top mediators in the talks, UN envoy Jan Eliasson and his African Union counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim, said they would travel to Khartoum for consultations with the Sudanese government in the coming days.

"We would want to see concrete commitment" from Khartoum to a ceasefire, Salim told reporters after the closing session of the talks.

In the final statement, the rebel groups "reiterated their readiness to respect a complete cessation of hostilities, provided that all other parties make similar commitments".

Yet neither the rebels nor the mediators were willing to reveal the details of the rebels' position on power-sharing and wealth-sharing.

The conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region erupted when rebel groups complaining of political and economic marginalisation by the government in Khartoum took up arms.

A peace deal was signed with the government in Abuja in May 2006 but only one rebel faction endorsed it, sparking deep divisions and a new surge in violence.

Two key rebel players did not attend the Arusha talks, including the Paris-exiled founding father of the Darfur rebellion, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.

He boycotted the meeting, arguing that the invited factions were illegitimate and that such consultations should only take place once a ceasefire is observed.

"There is a chair waiting for him... He has decided not to take part, we don't interpret (this) as his position when it comes to taking part in final negotiations," Eliasson told reporters.