African leaders urge Sudan to conclude peace talks by year’s end
KAMPALA, Oct. 24, 2003 (dpa) — Leaders of eastern and Horn of African states ended a summit in Kampala Friday by urging the Sudanese government and its southern rebels to conclude a peace agreement by the end of the year, according to a statement issued at the end of the conference.
The heads of state of countries grouped under the Inter- Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) met in the Ugandan capital Friday for a summit that focussed on the Sudanese and Somali peace processes, the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea and terrorism.
“The summit noted the progress made so far in the Sudan peace progress – the summit urged the parties to conclude the final peace agreement by the end of this year, welcomed and encouraged all parties involved in the peace process to continue with the process of dialogue,” the seven-page statement said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Somali interim president Abdikassim Salad Hassan, Sudan’s Omar El Bashir and representatives of heads of state of Djibouti and Eritrea attended the summit. Mozambican President Joachim Chissano attended as the chairman of the African Union.
Resolutions on the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea were not detailed but the statement said that “following discussions and exchange of views on the current complications encountered in the peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the summit decided that the current IGAD chairman and the current chairman of the African Union be engaged.”
The Somali interim president Abdikasim Salad Hassan said that Ethiopia was destabilising his country by arming different factions with the aim of re-starting the civil war.
“Ethiopia has provided military training, supply of weapons and logistics to re-start the civil war and destabilise our country. As a direct result of this, new conflicts erupted,” he said.
The summit statement did not mention this and instead authorised the expansion of the Kenyan-led Somali facilitation committee in the peace process to include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sudan and committed October 28 as the date for reviewing the Somali peace process in Kenya.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took over the chairmanship of IGAD from Omer El Bashir of Sudan and vowed to speed up the regional peace process during his tenure.
“We have finished our programme. I will concentrate on two issues, the consolidation of the peace process in the region, in Sudan, in Somalia and in northern Uganda. I will also concentrate on the border problem between Ethiopia and Eritrea.”