Darfur foes support temporary ceasefire for polio vaccination campaign: UN

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan 7, 2005 (AP) — The United Nations said Friday the government and Darfur rebels have responded positively to a temporary cease-fire plea to allow a planned polio vaccination campaign to go ahead next week.

SLA rebels adorned with protective leather charms gather near a base in the desert east of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state November 8, 2004. (Reuters).

But Sudan’s foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, raised fears that rebel groups fighting government forces in Sudan’s western Darfur region are planning to launch attacks ahead of Sunday’s peace deal signing ceremony to end the country’s 21 year southern civil war.

The continuing instability in Darfur, where tens of thousands of villagers have been killed in a conflict that began almost two years ago, raises concerns over whether calm can be achieved throughout the vast region ahead of the planned Jan. 10-12 polio vaccination program.

Jan Pronk, the U.N. secretary-general’s representative in Sudan, this week urged all parties to the Darfur conflict to lay down their arms before, during and after the program.

After meeting Ismail in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Friday, Pronk said he has received positive responses of commitment to a “complete calm” in Darfur from the government while the polio program is being held.

Pronk also said Darfur’s two main rebel groups — the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement — have also shown cooperation and agreement, particularly in the volatile North Darfur state.

The United Nations cites the Darfur conflict as one factor behind Sudan’s polio outbreak, its first since the virus was eradicated here in April 2001. There have been 105 reported cases in Sudan since fighting begun in February 2003, marking the third highest rate in the world.

Ismail claimed that Darfur rebels are plotting attacks ahead of the peace deal signing ceremony between government leaders and southern rebels in neighboring Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

“We have information that the two rebel groups in Darfur are planning to wage attacks to spoil the momentum that is now developing around the peace deal,” he said without providing further details.

World and regional leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, are expected to attend the southern peace treaty signing ceremony, which American and U.N. officials hope can serve as a guide to ending the Darfur conflict.

While echoing similar sentiments Friday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush administration remains anxious about the Darfur crisis.

“We have some continuing concerns about the level of violence in Darfur and the need to make sure all parties are living up to their commitments and making sure that humanitarian aid is flowing freely in the region,” McClellan said.

The non-Arab Darfur rebels rose up in February 2003 against Sudan’s Arab-dominated government and pro-government Arab tribal fighters, known as the Janjaweed, who have since been accused of launching coordinated attacks on non-Arab farmers in Darfur. Sudan denies targeting civilians or allying with the Janjaweed militia.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of non-Arab Sudanese villagers and displaced nearly 2 million from their homes in Darfur’s three states, which are roughly the size of France.

Two cease-fire accords have been drawn up, most recently in Nigeria in November, but African Union monitors have reported numerous breaches of the protocols by the warring parties.

The polio vaccination program is to be undertaken in coordination with the Sudanese Health Ministry, the World Health Organization and the United Nations’ children fund, UNICEF.

Ismail said his government is “totally committed” to stopping military operations so the campaign can go ahead and urged rebels to commit “for the citizens to benefit.”

He also said a joint mission between the United Nations and the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry will soon visit returned Sudanese refugees from Chad to assess their needs. He did not say when the mission would arrive at the border.