Annan laments lack of progress in Darfur talks

Oct 6, 2005 (GENEVA) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan lamented Thursday the stagnation of peace talks over the Darfur region of western Sudan and said he would increase pressure on the parties to the conflict.

“We are concerned about the slowness or the lack of progress in the Abuja (Nigeria) peace process and we are going to try and apply as much pressure as we can on both parties, on the governement and on the rebels, because they both have a role to play,” he told the executive committee of the UN High Commission for Refugees in Geneva.

“The only way to resolve this issue is through a political settlement,” he said.

“There can be no comprehensive peace in Sudan as long as the situation in Darfur is not resolved.”

Annan said Darfur had been one of the chief topics discussed with the new head of the UNHCR, Antonio Guterres of Portugal.

The Khartoum government and the two main rebel movements in Darfur — the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army– have been involved in talks since September 15 in Abuja under the aegis of the African Union.

The talks are meant to deal with power-sharing and security issues.

The conflict pits rebel movements against government troops backed by Janjaweed Arab militias, accused of human rights abuses on a massive scale against the local African population.

The fighting is thought to have cost between 180,000 and 300,000 lives and driven 2.6 million people from their homes. A fragile ceasefire came into effect in April 2004 but new violence broke out last week.

(AFP/ST)