Sudanese FM says govt determined to resolve Darfur crisis

KHARTOUM, Jan 17 (AFP) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Monday the government was determined to reach a settlement to the Darfur crisis in the west of the country, after talks with a visiting Dutch minister.

Ismail told a joint news conference with Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Agnes van Ardenne that Khartoum aimed to make the next round of talks with Darfur rebels in Abuja in February “a final and decisive one in which agreement will be reached on all issues of controversy.”

Ardenne said she was pleased the Sudanese government had “begun to think seriously about finding a solution to the Darfur conflict.”

But she noted that a ceasefire signed last April was “not respected by all parties in Darfur,” a situation which she said raised international concern.

An uprising begun by ethnic minority rebels in early 2003 prompted the government to launch a bloody crackdown by Arab militias which Washington has said amounted to genocide.

Around 70,000 people are estimated to have died in the past several months alone. Some 1.5 million more have fled their homes, some seeking refuge beyond Sudan’s borders.