Sudanese FM : Government will attend peace talks in Nigeria
CAIRO, Aug 9, 2004 (AP) — The Sudanese government will take part in peace talks on violence in its western region of Darfur to be held in Nigeria later this month, Sudan ‘s foreign minister said Monday.
“We welcome and will participate in the talks that were announced,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters in Cairo. “We open the door wide to reach an agreement on the agenda and issues. We don’t have conditions and we won’t accept prior conditions.”
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his capacity as African Union chairman, offered to host the talks to resolve what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, an African Union spokesman said over the weekend.
Obasanjo invited the Sudanese government and rebel negotiators to hold talks in Nigeria starting Aug. 23, a spokesman for the African Union said. Previous talks fell apart July 17 after rebels walked out, saying the Sudanese government had ignored existing peace agreements.
Ismail said they failed because of the rebels “impossible and changing conditions.”
Repeated attempts to get comment from the rebels on Obasanjo’s invitation were unsuccessful.
Black African factions in Darfur rose up against the Sudanese government, claiming discrimination in the distribution of the large, arid region’s scarce resources. Since then, Arab militias purportedly backed by the government have been accused of going on a rampage, destroying villages, killing and raping. As many as 30,000 people have been killed, and 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Ismail, the Sudanese foreign minister, said Monday that the death toll was exaggerated.
“The maximum of our estimation for those who died until now doesn’t exceed 5,000, including 486 police that were killed or slaughtered by the rebels,” Ismail said. “Those who say 30,000 or 50,000, we challenge them to get us their names, their tribes, and their graves where they are buried.”
The U.S. Congress and some humanitarian groups have accused Sudan of genocide, and a July 30 U.N. resolution has threatened economic and diplomatic action against Sudan if it doesn’t act within 30 days to rein in the militias, known as Janjaweed. Sudan denies backing the militias
The Sudanese foreign minister accused the West of conspiracy against his country, and also pointed a finger at Israel. He offered no substantiation for such charges. Sudan , pointing to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that has angered many Arabs, has accused the West of using Darfur as an excuse to intervene in the region again.
Ismail expressed confidence that Sudan will be able to solve the problem in Darfur.
“We plan to implement (the U.N. resolution). We think we can do it.” He said.
“We will solve other problems in Darfur. We are not the party that created the problems there. We didn’t start the war. But despite this, we feel that we are capable of solving this problem. The main element to solve the problem is the Sudanese themselves,” he said.
Ismail also praised the results of an Arab League foreign ministers meeting on Darfur held in Cairo Sunday at Sudan ‘s request.
“It concluded that what is happening in Darfur is not genocide or ethnic cleansing, but a humanitarian, security and political problem resulted from the war that took place in Darfur,” he said.
However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters that the league concluded that bad things had taken place in Darfur.
“One of the important elements that deserves attention is that the Arab countries expressed their rejection and condemnation of violence and killing that happened,” Aboul Gheit said Monday. “This reflects a development in thinking, and that mistakes did happen on the ground, and that they should be confronted.”
The 22-member Arab League, which rarely criticizes one of its own, rejected “any threats of coercive military intervention in the region (to end the crisis) or imposing any sanctions on Sudan .”