UN envoy says bringing peace to Darfur a difficult task
December 4, 2007 (SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt) — The UN envoy for Darfur said Tuesday a hard task lies ahead in bringing peace to the western Sudanese region, as a proliferation of armed groups jeopardises relief efforts for the two million displaced.
Eliasson was speaking after he and the envoy from the African Union, Salim Ahmed Salim, met in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with regional officials for talks aimed at ending the nearly five-year-old conflict in Darfur.
The talks, which included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Chad, Eritrea and Libya, are a new attempt at ending the bloodshed in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million displaced, according to UN figures. Khartoum says only 9,000 people died.
“It is a very difficult task,” Eliasson said. “For the peacekeepers to do a good job they have to have a peace to keep.”
He added that he was “very fearful of the explosive situation inside the camps. We have to end this misery.”
For his part, Salim said “we are hoping that those who are not involved in the current process of negotiations will come and join the negotiations.
“We want to be as patient as possible, but this cannot be an endless exercise. The more time we spend the more difficult the situation in the field.
Earlier, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had said the aim of the meeting was to “encourage Darfur rebels to join peace talks. It will also examine ways to unify their actions and prepare them to negotiate with the Sudanese government.
“We’ll see how to relaunch negotiations on more solid ground,” he said.
“Egypt has a particular vision on this issue which will be announced after testing opinions on the matter,” he said without providing further details.
He said the Egyptian force participating in the joint AU-UN peacekeeping force was ready. It includes a mechanised infantry batallion, an engineering company, a transportation company, a signal company and a field hospital.
Sudan did not send its foreign minister to the talks, which specifically involve Sudan’s neighbours, Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt Abdel Moneim Mabruk told AFP.
“We welcome all efforts by neighbouring countries and by the United Nations and African Union to peacefully resolve the crisis in Darfur,” he said.
UN and AU-mediated talks in Libya in October, aimed at convincing key rebel leaders to join peace negotiations, quickly collapsed after the main rebel groups boycotted the event.
The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms, complaining of political and economic marginalisation by the government in Khartoum.
A peace deal was signed with the government in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in May 2006 but only one rebel faction endorsed it, sparking deep divisions and a new surge in violence.
The rebel groups have since splintered into dozens of factions and the violence continues.
Despite the failure of the Libya talks, the United Nations and African Union have vowed to pursue their efforts to try to convince rebels to rejoin the process.
But substantial peace talks are unlikely before next year, chief AU negotiatior Sam Ibok said last month.
The deployment of an international peacekeeping force of 26,000 under joint AU and UN auspices to replace a struggling contingent of 7,000 poorly equipped African Union troops is running several months behind schedule.
Only a third of its eventual strength is likely to be in place on time, its commander General Martin Luther Agwai said last week.
The best-case scenario would be 9,000 personnel on the ground when the mandate begins on January 1, but that will include the 6,200 troops currently in Darfur in the AU mission, he said.
The UN has voiced disappointment over obstacles placed by Khartoum delaying the deployment of the biggest UN peacekeeping mission in history.
(AFP)