(Xinhua) -- Chairman of the African Union Commission Jean Ping said here Wednesday the civil society in Sudan's Darfur region should play an active role in the regional peace process.

Addressing a meeting of representatives of civil society from Darfur, Ping said the civil society should confront the challenges through a unified position to help move forward the reconciliation process.

He urged the civil society to send a message to Darfur's armed groups that peace is the real victory and they should come back to negotiations.

Around 170 civil groups from Darfur started on Tuesday a consultative forum to discuss the ongoing efforts to halt the armed conflict in the Sudanese region.

Fightings that erupted in 2003 between ethnic rebels and the Sudanese forces have left around 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million others displaced, the United Nations estimated.

The UN Security Council last year dispatched a hybrid force, the UNAMID (African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur), to the volatile region in efforts to protect local residents.

As a the prime mediator between the Sudanese government and rebel groups, Doha has hosted several rounds of negotiations, but little progress has been achieved as various parties were entrenched in their positions on key issues.