Khartoum, observers sign deal on monitoring Darfur ceasefire

KHARTOUM, June 4 (AFP) — International observers heading for Sudan’s Darfur region to monitor a ceasefire on Friday signed an agreement with the government setting out the terms of their mission, the Sudanese news agency Suna reported.

The deal was signed on behalf of the government by Abdel Wahab Al Sawy, the director of the African Union department at the foreign ministry, Suna said.

It notably sets out the relationship between Khartoum and the ceasefire committee in Darfur and gives the observers free entry into Sudan and free movement inside the country.

The observers are expected to arrive in the impoverished western Sudanese region where a rebellion broke out in February 2003 on Saturday to begin their mission.

The Sudanese government and the rebels signed a ceasefire on April 8, also agreeing to deployment of African Union (AU) observers.

But both sides accuse each other of having violated the deal.

Last week, they signed signed an accord in Addis Abeba, where the AU is based, allowing for the deployment of the first international peace observers.

In total, some 120 observers from the AU, the European Union, the United States, the Sudanese government, the two rebel groups in Darfur and the mediation team from neighbouring Chad will be deployed in the region, according to the AU.

Fighting in Darfur has killed 10,000 people and displaced about one million, with up 100,000 of them taking refuge in Chad according to UN figures.