ROUNDUP: Khartoum agrees on action plan for Darfur

(Adds U.S. greeting plan, setting of new peace talks)

KHARTOUM/NAIROBI, Aug 10, 2004 (dpa) — The Sudanese government said it will adhere to a joint Sudan-U.N. plan for ending the crisis in the western Darfur region, Sudanese media reported Monday.

The plan, which includes setting up safe areas for the return of displaced people in Darfur, was accepted by the government during a cabinet meeting Sunday in Khartoum, the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported.

The plan, drawn up last week by the U.N. special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail calls for the Khartoum government to secure specific villages and camps and set up safe access routes and escorted convoys, State Foreign Minister al-Tigani Salih Fidhail told Sudanese media.

In addition, the agreement calls for a ceasefire between government forces and rebels in the safe areas and for African Union (A.U.) monitors to ensure that the insurgents lay down their arms, Fidhal said.

Under the agreement, Khartoum reportedly has to make sure that pro-government militias also disarm.

However, the A.U., planning to increase their slated force in Darfur from 300 to almost 2,000, suffered a setback Monday when Khartoum said it rejected the plans.

According to SUNA, Sudan had told the A.U. that it had agreed only to receive a 300-strong protection force. Khartoum also rejected a strengthened mandate for the A.U. force from protection to full- fledged peacekeeping.

The news came ahead of an A.U. meeting in Addis Ababa, where the enlargement and mandate change of the African force were to be discussed.

Meanwhile, the government in Khartoum and the two rebel groups fighting in Darfur have agreed to sit down to new talks in Nigeria, starting August 23. The last round of talks broke down in July.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called the setting of a new date for Darfur peace talks “an important development”.

“It’s a good start,” he said. “Obviously, much will depend on what concrete actions come out of it.”

He praised the progress in the Plonk talks and expressed hope that sanctions could be avoided by providing prompt relief to the Darfur crisis.

The United States and Britain co-sponsored the June 30 United Nations Security Council resolution threatening eventual sanctions if Sudan does not act to defuse the crisis in Darfur. Ereli emphasized that a 30-day U.N. deadline remains.

Late Sunday, the Arab League ended a one-day special meeting on Darfur called by Sudan.

The Arab foreign ministers called for the arrest of leaders of the government-supported militia in Sudan and rejected any foreign military intervention in the country.

The ministers also called for an investigation into human rights violations in western Sudan and for the voluntary return of refugees to their homes.

Participants in the meeting, which included representatives from the A.U., the United Nations and Nigeria, called for “an immediate prosecution of some Janjaweed leaders as a beginning to a wide-scale disarmament campaign of outlawed militias”.

The Arab foreign ministers rejected any “threat of forced military intervention in the region” and noted that any pressure or attempt to impose sanctions will only result in negative repercussions on all Sudanese people and will complicate the Darfur crisis.

Last month’s U.N. Security Council resolution calls on Khartoum to disarm the feared Janjaweed militia within 30 days and end what is now commonly called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Sudan initially baulked at the resolution but later said it would try to comply.

Khartoum has been accused of backing the Moslem Janjaweed in a campaign of murder and rape against black African farmers in Darfur.

Arab foreign ministers also urged international donors to immediately finance humanitarian needs in the region. The final communique made no mention of any Arab commitment, financial or otherwise, despite a request from Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail for Arab support on the financial, political and security levels.