Sudanese official says donor conference successful

KHARTOUM, May 26 (Xinhua) — Minister of State of the Sudanese Interior Ministry Ahmed Haroun said on Thursday that a donors’ conference held earlier in the day in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa was a success.

Haroun, who accompanied First Vice President Ali Othman Mohammed Taha to the conference, told reporters that the conference succeeded in offering financial and logistical support required to strengthen the African Union’s Mission (AMIS) in the conflict- plagued Darfur.

All participants at the conference confirmed that realizing peace in Darfur is the duty of the African Union (AU) and the role of donor countries is restricted within financial and logistical support to help the AU achieve its mission, he added.

The Sudanese official also accused Darfur rebel groups of continuing hampering humanitarian missions and attacking civilians.

Earlier in the day, the 53-member pan-African body appealed for 460 million dollars in cash, military equipment and logistical support to reinforce its current troops to more than 7,700 by September.

The AU has deployed over 2,270 soldiers to monitor a ceasefire in Darfur.

In his address to the conference, Taha voiced the government’s willingness to cooperate with and support the AU’s mission in Darfur.

He reaffirmed that the Darfur issue is an African conflict and should be resolved within the AU framework.

Rebels took up arms in Sudan’s arid western Darfur region against the government in February 2003. Many people have been killed during two years of violence and more displaced.

The AU has announced that a new round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels will be held on June 10 in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

So far, peace efforts have foundered as rounds of talks in Abuja failed to hammer out a settlement.