Peace envoys hold intensive Darfur talks

Feb 14, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Envoys from the United Nations and African Union held intensive consultations with Sudanese officials in a bid to muster support for ailing peace efforts in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

“The idea is to see as many officials as possible before heading to Darfur Wednesday and meeting rebel commanders,” AU spokesman Nureddin Mezni said.

UN envoy Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim of the African Union talked on Tuesday with senior advisers from the Sudanese presidency as well as intelligence chief Salah Abdallah Gosh.

The two envoys, who are also expected to meet President Omar al-Beshir, will try to rally holdout rebel factions to the peace agreement signed in May 2006.

That deal, reached in Abuja, last year was signed by the government but only endorsed by one rebel faction, failing to curb the four-year-old violence.

“We will endeavour to broaden the accord to include the non-signatories,” Salim told reporters on Monday.

According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since fighting broke out between rebel groups and government forces in February 2003.

The envoys’ mission came as a delegation from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was waiting in neighbouring Ethiopia for visas to enter the country after Khartoum vetoed one member of the panel.

According to a diplomatic source in Geneva, Khartoum wants to exclude from the delegation of former UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, for describing the situation in Darfur as “genocide.”

(AFP)