Envoys push Darfur rebels to accept peace deal
May 4, 2006 (ABUJA) — International peace mediators pleaded with Darfur’s rebel leaders to accept a proposed deal designed to bring three years of slaughter to an end and allow for urgent humanitarian relief.
US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and British international aid minister Hilary Benn added their weight to African Union peace talks in Abuja after the warring parties failed to meet a deadline for an accord.
Separately, the Austrian presidency of the European Union appealed to the rebels to agree to the deal, which has already been accepted by the Sudanese government, saying failure to strike an accord would be “irresponsible.”
UN humanitarian relief coordinator Jan Egeland also warned that a huge aid operation in the devastated western region of Sudan could be jeopardized.
Zoellick and Benn, backed by African officials, have fine-tuned the draft plan and spent two days trying to win support ahead of the latest deadline of midnight Thursday.
But senior AU mediator Sam Ibok was not optimistic, saying: “We are still talking but it is a real trouble.
“We are hoping to get a breakthrough. We have some glimpses of hope but we cannot say confidently that we are there yet.”
The Khartoum government has said it supports the new text but Darfur’s two rebel movements are holding out for more guarantees on regional autonomy and jobs in the national army.
As foreign envoys shuttled between the government, rebel and AU delegates, Zoellick’s spokesman Richard Mills said talks were focusing on how to bridge the gap.
“We are working closely with the African Union mediators. They have done an excellent job by putting down a good text which is the basis for negotiation.”
Asked if he was optimistic of a deal before the deadline, he said: “We are persistent.”
There was some hope from Ahmed Hussein, a negotiator of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), who said after meeting Benn and Zoellick that it had received “some amendments” on security, power-sharing and compensation.”
“We have always remained very positive about the peace agreement, we just wanted the world to acknowledge our demands,” he said.
“So now we are going to review the amendments and we should formulate an opinion, hopefully tonight.”
Darfur, an arid desert region as large as France, erupted into civil war in early 2003 when the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the JEM started fighting the Khartoum government for autonomy in their region.
The pro-government Janjaweed militia launched a brutal counter-attack. The conflict has since cost between 180,000 and 300,000 lives and driven more than 2.4 million people from their homes.
UN agencies say it has caused the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” and Washington has accused Arab-led Sudanese government of prosecuting a genocide against Darfur’s black African tribes.
In a statement, UN coordinator Egeland said an aid operation to 3.5 million people in Darfur was at risk unless a peace deal was signed and implemented.
“The world’s largest aid effort now hangs in the balance, unsustainable under present conditions. If we are to avoid an imminent, massive loss of life, we need immediate action,” he said.
“The carnage in Darfur is escalating, spilling over into Chad,” he added, saying that “marauding, government-backed militias prowl the countryside on a scorched-earth campaign of terror, systematically destroying lives and livelihoods with impunity.”
In Vienna, the EU presidency urged the rebel movements to sign up to the African Union-drafted peace plan.
“Not to conclude such an accord would be irresponsible in light of the terrible suffering the population of Darfur is enduring,” it said.
Separately, the European announced a 100-million-euro (127 million-dollar) aid package to help with food supplies, rehousing refugees and rebuilding work in Darfur, and to be released gradually once a peace accord is signed.
(ST)