TEXT- UK Foreign Secretary’s speech to Darfur peace talks

Feb 14, 2006 (ABUJA) –I am pleased to be here in Abuja. I thank AU Special Envoy and Chief Mediator to the talks, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, for the opportunity to address you today.

The UK and Sudan have a long history. We are committed to a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Sudan, which respects human rights and the rule of law; which enables its people to share equally in the nation’s future prosperity, and which is an active and constructive member of the international community.

This can only be achieved if two conditions are met. First the successful and full implementation of the North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan, signed last year; and second, a settlement of the crisis in Darfur.

That crisis in Darfur cannot be solved through war. The only solution for the problems of Darfur is a political settlement, which tackles the underlying causes of the conflict.

That is what all of you are all here to achieve or are supposed to be here to achieve. And that’s why the United Kingdom strongly supports the peace process here in Abuja. We’ve indicated this support by the appointment and continued involvement of Ambassador Alan Goulty. I am pleased to announce here today that the UK Government will be providing a package of one million pounds to the African Union in further support of this vital process.

Let me now say something to the mediators and the other international participants; and then address the parties themselves.

Dr Salim, I want to thank you and the African Union, the Head of Mediation, Sam Ibok, the Co-ordinators of the various Commissions on Power Sharing, Wealth Sharing and Security Arrangements and others – for the strong leadership which you and your colleagues have shown at these talks they have shown at these talks and your tireless efforts to find peace. Yours is a thankless task – constantly working, always in good faith, to find ways forward and with the patience of Job. I commend their work and I encourage them to continue.

I would also like to thank the Nigerian Government, particularly President Obasanjo himself, and the International Partners represented here, for the role which you and they have also played in working towards peace for Darfur.

And I pay tribute to the African Union Monitoring Mission in Darfur itself, whose brave troops continue to do an excellent job under very difficult circumstances. The United Kingdom has been from the very start a leading supporter of the African Union mission: we will continue to back it to the hilt.

Let me turn now to the progress – or lack of it – being made by those of you that are party to the conflict, here in Abuja.

The UK welcomes the steps made towards peace in previous rounds of these talks. We welcome in particular the Humanitarian and Security Protocol, which provides a basis for improving security on the ground in Darfur; and the Declaration of Principles, which provides a framework for an eventual political agreement on Darfur’s future.

But I have to tell all of you here that this is not enough.

Progress in the talks has been far too slow. The original ceasefire was signed in April 2004, the Humanitarian and Security Protocols signed here in November 2004, and the Declaration of Principles in July 2005. You – the parties – have failed to meet the 31 December deadline set by the Security Council for an agreement. You are now in your seventh round of talks.

And the commitments that you – the parties directly included – have made have not been honoured. You – the parties – signed a ceasefire. But it is being broken every day. There is no ceasefire in Darfur. The Government of Sudan and the rebel movements have both repeatedly violated it. Attacks by all sides continue, including on humanitarian convoys and on the AU mission – the very people who are there to help the civilians affected directly by the war.

Meanwhile the people of Darfur continue to suffer. Two million or so are now in camps. Many more are homeless or displaced. Innocent people are still being killed. Women and girls are being raped. Children – the children of those represented here – are dying.

This has to stop. And the people who must stop it – indeed the only people who can stop it – are you, the representatives of the parties to the conflict.

What the international community now wants to see is an end to the haggling and posturing and the start of real action by you to put Darfur back together again.

So as a first step I call on you today to take five specific and immediate actions:

– First: Declare your positions and deployments as you are committed to doing.
– Second: Respect and observe the ceasefire in Darfur, which you signed up to and begin to rebuild security there. The Government of Sudan bears primary responsibility for the events in Darfur and for the failure to ensure the security of its citizens there. It needs to cease its own offensive operations and rein in the janjaweed militias. But at the moment it is the rebel Movements who have been most guilty of late in launching new attacks: they have got to stop and rein in their fighters.
– Third: attacks on the AU force and humanitarian convoys has to stop;
– Fourth: facilitate the work of the humanitarian agencies not undermine;
– And fifth: the perpetrators of atrocities have to be brought to justice not hidden.

So much for action on the ground. We need to see action here in Abuja too. That means an agreement reached here that stops the conflict for good and provides the basis for lasting peace, prosperity and justice in Darfur.

In particular, the international community wants to see what it has not seen up till now: that all the parties are serious about reaching such an agreement, and that they are doing all they can to reach an agreement.

Dr Salim was correct when he said that there was much cynicism in the international community about this cause – that was a characteristic understatement from a very patient man.

For example, the Government of Sudan is represented at these talks at Ministerial level: we welcome that. But the leaders of the Movements should be here in Abuja too. Minni Minnawi and Khalil Ibrahim say they are serious about a negotiated settlement: let them come here, lead their negotiators to a deal, and show us that they are serious about reaching a deal. There was growing doubt they want a deal or are they just playing around?

The fact is that you, the parties, now have a choice. And it is a choice you will be taking in the full glare of international attention.

You can choose to reach an agreement. That will mean working as hard as you can to conclude one here and then implementing that agreement on the ground.

If that is done, Britain and the international community will help you – with humanitarian and developmental assistance, with practical support and political encouragement. Along that route lies the Darfur, and the Sudan, we all want: peaceful, prosperous, and successful.

Or you can choose not to reach an agreement. The result will be more death and misery in your own lands against your own people, and lost opportunity to build a better future for your own people.

There will be other consequences too. The international community is not going to allow those individuals who are responsible for gross human rights violations or blocking the peace process to escape the consequences of their actions. We know who these people are.

There is already provision for sanctions against such individuals under UN Security Council Resolution 1591. Several members are already before the Security Council’s Sanctions Committee for consideration, on both the Government of Sudan side and Movements too. Other names can, and will, be put forward. My government will not hesitate to do so.

Nor do we rule out additional UN sanctions against either the Government of Sudan or the Movements if they fail to make progress.

And remember too that, with our full support, and with the full support of the security council, International Criminal Court is pursuing allegations of war crimes and grave human rights abuses in Darfur. They too will be watching closely who does and who doesn’t do what in Darfur over the coming months.

And there may be a further consequence if you, the parties, fail to make rapid progress here in Abuja. The international community has poured a lot of money, time and effort into these talks as I’ve indicated our patience is not unlimited. If the parties do not reach an agreement here soon, we, with the AU, will need to start looking at the alternatives. And you may well find that such alternatives to you reaching an agreement leave some of the parties here today, and the absent leaders, with a smaller role to play than they would have achieved had they taken part and reached an agreement.

We are not there yet. My government is serious about wanting these talks, here and now, to succeed through your own efforts. But these are the questions the international community will very shortly start to ask unless we see more rapid progress.

So those are the two, clear choices, which you face. The people of Darfur want peace. So does the African Union and the international community. I urge you today to choose the right path.

Let me close with a true story.

I visited Darfur several months ago. I went to one of the biggest camps, and I talked to a woman who had fled the fighting. She had a daughter of three or four, clinging to her. I tried to talk to the child but she wouldn’t respond. I asked her mother why. “Because” said her mother, “after what has happened to us, she is afraid of strangers”.

The people in this room can put an end to that child’s fear, and to Darfur’s suffering. They can build a Darfur in which that child – and thousands more like her – can go home and make a new life. The international community looks to you today to make that possible. And you owe it to the people of Darfur to do so.

(ST)