Sudan, Chad leaders discuss Darfur peace prospects
Feb 21, 2007 (TRIPOLI) — Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi brought the leaders of Sudan and Chad together on Wednesday to discuss ways to bring peace to Darfur, scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Violence in Darfur has spilled over into Chad, which accuses Sudan of supporting rebels launching cross-border attacks that have exacerbated ethnic tensions and triggered a flood of refugees.
The four-way meeting between Gaddafi, Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Chad’s Idriss Deby and Eritrean leader Isaias Afewerki was to discuss “means of boosting peace and guaranteeing stability in Darfur”, the Libyan state news agency Jana said.
Bashir was due later to meet Darfur rebels who have not signed up to a shaky peace deal.
“We hope this crisis will find its appropriate solution,” Chad’s Deby was quoted as saying by Jana after arriving in Tripoli.
Gaddafi has been pressing Chad and Sudan to settle their differences as part of international efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
The talks in Libya are aimed at trying to entice the National Redemption Front rebel coalition to join a 2006 peace deal between Khartoum and a faction of the former rebel Sudan Liberation Movement.
Divisions among Darfur’s rebel factions have been a factor in delaying an effective peace deal with Khartoum. One of the main factions complained on Wednesday it had not been invited to the talks in Libya and dismissed them as a “charade”.
Gaddafi is expected to try to persuade the NRF to join the peace deal for Darfur, where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from homes since 2003.
Comments from one rebel group that did travel to Tripoli suggested a compromise would not be easy.
“We’re not ready at this point in time to enter any talks with Khartoum. We came based on brother Gaddafi’s invitation,” said Khalil Abdullah, secretary-general of the National Movement for Reform and Development.
The spiral of violence in Darfur has been slowed only by a huge humanitarian operation which aid workers warn is increasingly under threat.
Washington calls the violence genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use and which Khartoum rejects.
Bashir has resisted pressure to authorise deployment of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers to support a 7,000-strong African Union mission in Darfur. He says the AU force is strong enough and the United Nations could give money and logistical help to a hybrid force.
(Reuters)