* Qatar talks hit by rebel walkouts, "not working"
* Talks need more visible venue, more global backers
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The United States and other powers should back a fresh round of "high profile" peace talks to resolve Sudan's Darfur conflict as current efforts are not working, influential U.S. Senator John Kerry said on Friday.
Kerry told Reuters in an interview that negotiations run by the United Nations and the African Union and hosted by Qatar's government had gone "under the radar" and needed to be moved to a more prominent venue, supported by more international players.
Sudan last week pulled its negotiators out of the Qatari capital Doha, the scene of months of floundering discussions between Khartoum and Darfur's fractured insurgent factions, many of whom have boycotted parts of the proceedings.
Clashes between Khartoum's forces and all Darfur rebel groups, even with the only one that signed a 2006 peace accord, have reignited in recent months, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has said he is still committed to peace in Darfur, the scene of a seven-year conflict, but that any talks must continue within Sudan.
Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said he met people caught up in the fighting in a visit to Darfur earlier on Friday.
"It reinforced in me the urgency of our getting the Darfur peace process back onto the agenda in a larger, more significant way," Kerry said after flying into Khartoum halfway through a visit to Sudan.
"I think you have to pick the talks up into a larger venue with more players at the table," he added, saying talks could be hosted by one of Sudan's neighbours.
"I think the Qataris deserve enormous credit and they've been the leaders in helping to marshal this process over these past months," he said.
"But I think you also need other parties present and accounted for in order to raise the level of scrutiny and accountability ... You've got to rapidly get a higher profile on a set of talks."
Kerry said he had discussed the proposal with north Sudanese leaders during his trip. It was his own idea and was not a formal offer from the White House, he added.
The Doha negotiations had been undermined by rebel walk-outs he said. "It was a process that wasn't working for a number of different reasons ... I think that Doha was under the radar screen in many ways without even all of the parties there that are critical to establishing a real peace process."
The United States and partners could act as a catalyst to get the talks going, he said. "There are a lot of different players, the Norwegians, the French, the Dutch ... the British, we all need to be engaged."
Kerry was in Sudan to observe the final preparations for a referendum, due on January 9, giving people from Sudan's oil-producing south the choice whether to declare independence.
Washington has offered Khartoum a series of incentives -- including removing Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and helping ease some sanctions -- if it resolves the Darfur crisis and accepts the result of the vote, widely expected to be for secession.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Khartoum in 2003, accusing it of neglecting Darfur. (Editing by Jon Hemming)
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