Leaders in Darfur should be given more power: Sudanese FM

KHARTOUM, Aug 07, 2004 (Xinhua) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said on Saturday that according to an agreement between the United Nations and Sudan, leaders in the country’s Darfur region should be given more power in administration and security.

Ismail made the comments before leaving for Egypt’s capital Cairo to attend an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss how to contain the crisis in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

According to Ismail, the agreement, reached in Khartoum between Jan Pronk, the UN special representative for Sudan, and Ismail on Wednesday night, says Sudan will solve the Darfur issue from the five aspects of politics, humanitarianism, security, voluntary return of refugees and enlarged power for leaders in the region.

Ismail reiterated Sudan’s position to refuse international peacekeeping forces in its land, saying the mission of peacekeeping would be better accomplished by Sudan’s military.

As to the upcoming meeting in Cairo, Ismail expressed his wish that the gathering, to be attended by Arab foreign ministers, would help reach consensus on the Darfur issue.

A revolt against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government broke out among indigenous ethnic minorities in Darfur in February 2003. Pro-government Arab militias there are blamed for a wave of killings of indigenous people.

More than 10,000 people have died in the region and more than a million others have been driven from their homes since then.