US’s Zoellick to join Darfur talks
May 1, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will travel Monday to Nigeria in a bid to nail down an elusive agreement to end the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, US officials said Monday.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Zoellick, the US administration’s point man on Sudan, was leaving for Abuja, Nigeria, where Darfur rebels have balked at signing a peace accord.
Zoellick will “try to assist the African Union mediation team find solutions to the remaining issues regarding a peace agreement for Darfur,” McCormack said in a statement.
The African Union gave the rebels an additional 48 hours to sign the accord after they allowed a Sunday midnight deadline to pass with no agreement to end the conflict that has left up to 300,000 people dead since February 2003.
McCormack said the Abuja talks had made progress in recent days but some thorny points remained. “All parties should make a concentrated effort to seize this opportunity for peace,” he said.
“The United States urges the Darfur rebel movements to focus on the few key issues that stand in the way of reaching a settlement, and we urge the government of Sudan to send a senior representative back to Abuja to finalize the peace agreement.”
Khartoum, which the United States has accused of genocide in the fighting pitting Darfur rebels against government-backed militia, said it was prepared Sunday to sign the accord and was willing to negotiate.
But the rebels said the draft agreement did not consider giving the country’s vice presidency to the Darfur region, nor did it adequately resolve other power-sharing and wealth distribution issues.
Zoellick will support AU chief mediator Salim Ahmed Salim and his team in an effort to narrow differences in the talks and also hoped to meet with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other AU leaders in Abuja, McCormack said.
He will also meet with commanders of the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur to discuss security and how to ensure the delivery of relief supplies in the conflict that has left some 2.4 million people homeless.
Zoellick, who has traveled to Sudan four times, will be accompanied to Abuja by Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Roger Winter, special representative for Sudan.
(ST)