Dutch PM urges Darfur warring parties to conclude peace deal
Oct 4, 2005 (ABUJA) — Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende urged the Sudan’s government and Darfur rebel groups to reach a quick peace accord Tuesday and warned them that international goodwill was running out.
“Constructing peace is the reponsibility of all of you towards your great country, to the land where you were born and to you own people,” the Dutch leader told delegates from the warring parties at African Union talks in Abuja.
“But not only is that your responsibility towards Sudan, it is also your responsibility towards the international community; a community that has invested so heavily in past years in assisting to bring a ceasefire to Darfur, in trying to alleviate the plight of so many displaced families.”
The Netherlands is one of a group European and north American powers which has leant logistical support to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, which is in the grip of a 30-month-old civil war that has left around 300,000 civilians dead.
“The international community wants to see results, it cannot go on spending resources on problems which should already have been resolved,” Balkenende warned.
“It is therefore that I plead to you to make tough decisions that lead to peace,” he said.
For the past year negotiating teams from the Khartoum government and two rebel movments fighting on behalf of the minority tribes living in the arid western region of Darfur have been meeting off-and-on in the Nigerian capital under the auspices of the African Union.
On Monday the two sides entered the first full plenary session of the latest round of talks, with both sides expressing optimism that they will be able to negotiate a broad political settlement on the issues of power and wealth charing between Darfur and the central government.
(AFP/ST)