AU’s Nguesso urges Sudanese parties to conclude Darfur peace deal
April 9, 2006 (ABUJA) — Dennis Sassou-Nguesso, Congo’s president and current head of the African Union urged Sudanese parties in Darfur peace talks to make the necessary concessions to end the three years conflicts in the region.
The AU Current Chairman urged the Sudanese Parties to move away from their hitherto fixed and maximalist positions, and to muster the necessary political will so as to achieve the much needed breakthrough in the negotiations.
He underscored that such an outcome will have to command the acceptance and ownership of the people of Darfur through a broad based and popular consultative mechanism such as the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation as envisaged in the Declaration of Principles (DoP).
During his tow days visits to Abuja, Nguesso held a series of consultations with the AU mediation, the different delegations of the Sudanese government, Darfur rebel groups, and the International partners.
At the beginning of the consultations, the AU Special Envoy and Chief Mediator Salim Ahmed Salim, briefed the leaders on current developments in the Talks, said Nourredine Mezni the AU spokesperson in the peace talks in a press statement.
In his statement at the final session of the consultations, Nguesso pointed out that the initiative had signaled “the urgency that all the stakeholders attach to the need to bring about a negotiated and political solution to the conflict. He also underscored the unequivocal acceptance by all the parties of the need to expeditiously conclude the negotiations.
Nguesso underscored the areas of convergence between the parties such as “the principle of direct negotiation as a means of bridging the gap between them and their agreement to consider and adopt a Draft Ceasefire Agreement in the coming days so as to pave the way for immediate conclusion for a Comprehensive Agreement on issues relating to final security arrangements.
He further said “we have requested the Chief Mediator, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim to expedite the preparation of a comprehensive package on the three calabashes of Power Sharing, Wealth Sharing and Security Arrangements for final consideration by the Parties”.
Present at these consultations held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja were Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, Sudanese second vice-president Ali Osman Taha, Ali Treiki, personal representative of the Libyan leader; and Saïd Djinnit, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.
“It was frank and exploratory,” Nigerian Obasanjo told reporters after the meeting. “They will continue to meet to see how they can bridge the gap. All are willing to make a success of this.”
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.
Sudan’s second vice-president, Ali Osman Taha, has been in Abuja for the past two days to bolster the government’s negotiating team. Taha signed the peace agreement with Sudan’s former southern rebel movement in January last year that brought an end to the 21-year civil war between the north and the south.
(ST)