Sudan’s Darfur rebels could face sanctions
June 1, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The chairman of the African Union Commission expressed “deep regret” Thursday that two rebel groups rejected the peace agreement for Sudan’s Darfur region and said those who do not sign on could face sanctions.
The AU, which has a peacekeeping force in Darfur and has mediated in the three-year-old conflict, held another session of talks Thursday with the holdout factions that have refused to sign the May 5 peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army.
The AU urged the groups to sign the accord, “failing which it would consider measures, including sanctions, to be applied against the leadership and members of the concerned groups,” Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said in a statement.
He said the AU would ask the U.N. Security Council to take “strong and effective measures, such as travel ban and assets freeze” against any party violating the May 5 agreement. The council, he recalled, had passed a resolution last month that threatened such steps against the violators of the Darfur peace agreement.
Konare blamed the two holdout groups of being behind what he described as the “progressive deterioration of the security situation in Darfur.”
An AU deadline expired at midnight Wednesday for the two holdout groups — the Justice and Equality Movement and a faction of the main rebel group — to sign the peace deal.
“The African Union continues its intensive talks with the factions to convince them to sign, even after the deadline has passed,” Khartoum-based AU Spokesman Moussa Hamani said. “But the agreement itself is not negotiable.”
Nearly 200,000 people have died from fighting or related hunger and disease since rebel groups, made up of ethnic Africans, rose up against the Arab-led Khartoum government in 2003.
The Sudanese government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab militias known as the Janjaweed who have been accused of some of the war’s worst atrocities. Khartoum denies backing the Janjaweed but agreed under the peace pact to rein them in.
On Wednesday, Khalil Ibrahim, who heads the Justice and Equality Movement, said the peace deal “is not providing a fair share of resources and power.”
“We want a fair peace agreement,” he said.
Ibrahim insisted that amendments should be made to the accord, although he did not specify any changes. But he said his group is “ready to continue negotiations and to cooperate with international organizations.”
A dissident faction of the Justice and Equality Movement emerged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, saying it accepted the peace agreement.
“We already discussed all of the decisions with the African Union and now we are ready to sign the Darfur peace agreement,” said Col. Abdul Majid Hassan, who said he leads the movement’s faction is South Darfur. It was not immediately clear how much support Hassan’s faction enjoys.
(ST/AP)