Sudanese president says determined to reach peace in Darfur
Mar 13, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said Monday he would strive toward peace in the war-torn Darfur region in the coming weeks amid international concern that peace talks were languishing.
Beshir “underlined the need for redoubling efforts for achieving peace in Darfur as soon as possible so as to complete the comprehensive peace process and boost the development all over the Sudan,” SUNA news agency reported.
“The people of Darfur will celebrate the achievement of peace in the coming months,” Beshir said.
Beshir made the comments after receiving delegates to the African Union’s Darfur peace talks in Abuja, where he said negotiations “have reached the final stages in all aspects.”
AU foreign ministers on Friday decided to extend the current AU mission in Sudan’s western region for six months, but also agreed in principle to eventually transfer the mission in Darfur to the United Nations.
Khartoum has opposed the potential entry of foreign troops into Sudan.
However, the head of the AU negotiating delegation, Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, said the decision would not interfere with steps toward peace.
“The AU Peace and Security Council resolution extending the AU mission in Darfur to six months will not affect the negotiations in Abuja,” Ahmed said, adding that his team was determined to “reach peace in the coming weeks.”
In February, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sternly rebuked both sides fighting in the brutal civil war in Darfur and demanded that peace talks be speeded up.
“There is no ceasefire in Darfur. The government of Sudan and the rebel movements have both repeatedly violated it. Attacks by all sides continue, including on humanitarian convoys and the AU mission,” Straw declared.
“This must stop…. Progress in the talks has been far too slow.”
War broke out in Darfur in February 2003 when rebel groups revolted against what they say is the political and economic marginalization of the region’s black African ethnic groups by the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum.
The government responded by unleashing the Janjaweed militia, a force of mounted gunmen, which has been blamed for many atrocities in a conflict that has left as many as 300,000 people dead and more than two million homeless.
For almost two years, the two sides in the conflict have been meeting on and off in the Nigerian capital to discuss a broad political solution to the dispute, but fighting, disease and hunger has continued to grip Darfur.
(ST)