Nigerian Foreign Minister sees early peace in Darfur

LAGOS, Nigeria, Aug 18, 2004 (PANA) — Nigeria’s foreign minister Oluyemi
Adeniji has predicted an early restoration of normalcy to the
troubled Darfur region of Sudan.

Adeniji spoke in Lagos Tuesday, ahead of peace talks in Abuja
between the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups fighting
in the region — the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan
Liberation Army.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also the chairman of
the African Union, will host the talks to be attended by AU and
UN facilitators.

Adeniji said the meeting in Abuja Tuesday, between President
Obasanjo and the Sudanese delegation led by Foreign Minister
Mustafa Osman Ismaili, was “part of the ground work for the
beginning of political negotiations on how to achieve lasting
peace in Sudan”.

“The point is that once you have a conflict situation, you don’t
have any magic wand for resolving it. You have to work at it and
continue to work at it until you get all parties involved to
appreciate that it is in their own interest and national interest
that the matter be resolved,” he said.

“I think we will get into that stage (resolution) very soon,”
Adeniji said shortly before taking a flight to South Africa in
what government officials described as part of the diplomatic
shuttle to end the Sudanese crisis.

The minister said preparatory work to ensure the success of the
talks had been concluded, adding: “We want to make sure that we
get all those involve on board. I can tell you that we are
optimistic that they will all attend.”

“The government on one hand, the liberation movements in Darfur
on the other hand and then with the facilitators not only of the
AU, but the UN,” Adeniji added.

President Obasanjo offered to host the talks after a previous
peace parley in Addis Ababa failed 17 July.

The two rebel groups have been fighting government troops in
Darfur for the past 18 months.

The fighting, aggravated by attacks by rampaging Arab militias
known as Janjaweed, has displaced more than 1 million people and
sparked what the UN described as the worst humanitarian crisis in
the world.

The AU has started the deployment of 300 troops to Darfur to help
protect its cease-fire monitors in the region.