Time to force peace in Darfur – UN official

Jan 17, 2006 (PARIS) – The international community’s top priority should be to force a peace deal in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region because it is the most dangerous crisis point in Africa, a senior United Nations official said on Tuesday.

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said it was perilous to have such instability in a country with so many neighbours.

Sudan is bordered by Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, Libya and Egypt.

“In my opinion, it is the most dangerous crisis point in Africa and in the world in general,” Guterres told a news conference.

“That is why I think that the top priority of the international community should be to create the conditions to force a peace accord.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday she favoured a major U.N. role in Darfur and told Khartoum it must cooperate in accepting international help.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of neglect. Khartoum denies U.S. charges of genocide but the International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes there.

Sudan has rejected U.N. suggestions that western forces should be sent to Darfur, and argues the international community should instead provide more cash to African Union forces already on the ground.

(Reuters)