AU Chairman in Nigeria for final push over Darfur peace talks
April 8, 2006 (LAGOS) — African Union (AU) Chairman and the Republic of the Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso will on Saturday visit Nigeria to push for a breakthrough in the long-running negotiations between Sudan’s government and rebels from the western region of Darfur.
The negotiations, in their seventh round, had made slow progress in the past two years but a resolution adopted by the AU Peace and Security Council on March 10 called for the warring parties to reach a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of April.
“That’s why we are pushing now,” Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the AU mediation team on the conflict in Darfur told Xinhua by phone. “The remaining issues are power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements.”
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and representatives from Libya and the United Nations are also due to attend Saturday’s meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja, he said.
In spite of the signing of a ceasefire agreement on April 8, 2004, the insecurity reigns and continued fighting never stopped in Darfur. On Thursday, AU negotiator Sam Ibok introduced a revised version of the proposed enhanced ceasefire agreement in the hope that it “effectively addresses the grey areas” in the previous one.
“It would create the confidence necessary for the parties to move on to tackle the outstanding important issues such as … the status of the forces, thus paving the way for the conclusion of a comprehensive ceasefire agreement,” an AU statement quoted Ibok as saying.
In January, the AU said it could not afford a 7,800-strong African force which was deployed in Darfur in 2004, and suggested a UN takeover of the mission. Sudan has opposed to the proposal, saying that it would support the transition to the United Nations after a deal has been reached with all the Darfur rebels.
A plenary meeting is scheduled for Sunday to consider the revised document and by the middle of the present month the AU mediation hopes to table a package of proposals on the power and wealth sharing as well as the security arrangements commissions, the AU statement said.
Darfur rebels took up arms against Khartoum in February 2003, accusing the government of negligence. Many people have been killed in the conflict and more displaced.
(Xinhua/ST)