UN envoy visits Eritrea for talks on troubled Sudanese regions

ASMARA, March 8 (AFP) — The United Nations special envoy for Sudan, Jan Pronk, is holding talks in Eritrea this week in a bid to press for a comprehensive peace in Sudan, officials said Tuesday.

President Isaias Afwerki receives UN special envoy for Sudan, Jan Pronk, March 8, 2005. (ERINA) .

Pronk met on Monday with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and, according to Sudanese press reports, would be meeting with representatives of rebel groups operating in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur and the east oft he country, they said.

Isaias “assured the UN envoy that Eritrea would continue to work diligently with all concerned parties to bring about a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese crises,” the Eritrean information ministry said in a statement.

In addition, Pronk was to see officials from Asmara-based Sudanese opposition movements, including rebels from Darfur and some from the Eastern Front, according to the media in Sudan.

In Darfur, fighting broke out in February 2003 between government forces and Khartoum’s proxy militias and rebels — the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement — which claim the region is marginalized.

The Eastern Front, composed of the Beja Congress and the Free Lions, have made similar complaints about the government in Khartoum in their region.

Several Sudanese opposition movements are headquartered in the Eritrean capital and relations between Asmara and Khartoum are tense with each government accusing the other of supporting their respective opposition groups.

The Sudan-Eritrea border has been officially closed since October 2002.