AU rejects call for UN takeover for Darfur peace process
June 4, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — In reaction to the Darfur rebels call for UN takeover of Darfur peace file, the African Union has rejected calls for negotiations on reaching peace in Sudan’s Darfur region to be handed over to the UN, saying the deal would not be held hostage by recalcitrant factions.
“We cannot hold the Darfur Peace Agreement hostage to those who did not sign, we have to go ahead and start implementation because the situation in Darfur can’t wait,” AU spokesman in Khartoum Noureddine Mezni told AFP Sunday.
Rebels had until May 31 to agree to the peace deal, drawn up in Abuja on May 5, or face UN sanctions, but only one faction of the main Sudan Liberation Movement signed ahead of the deadline.
The AU declaration came after the dissident SLM faction on Saturday said the bloc had failed in its efforts to broker an end to the three-year conflict in western Sudan and called on the United Nations to take over.
“This document was prepared and finalized in tight consultation with international partners including the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League, as well as many national governments,” Mezni said.
“The document was witnessed by all of them, and the institutions endorsed the document as balanced and just. The document is African and international at the same time. We have done the maximum possible.”
The holdout SLM faction led by Abdelwahid al-Nur said Saturday it had rejected the whole peace agreement after AU mediators failed to include its demands.
“The AU has absolutely and miserably failed in its efforts to mediate the fighting in Darfur,” said Nouri Abdalla, an advisor to Nur. “It is time it hands over the whole Darfur mediation file to the United Nations.”
In 2003, the SLM alongside the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched a rebellion in the western region of Darfur, prompting a heavy-handed crackdown by the Khartoum government and its proxy militia called the Janjaweed.
Since then, the conflict has left around 300,000 people dead and 2.4 million homeless.
The SLM faction led by Minni Minnawi signed the peace deal with the government, leaving out the SLM’s dissenting faction and the JEM, who insisted the deal failed to fully address their concerns.
But Mezni said that other dissident Darfur rebels who had arrived at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa to sign the deal after the May 31 dealine would be able to sign an as-yet unfinalised annex to the peace deal.
“There will be a signature ceremony for those who indicated their desire to be fully involved in the peace process and in the implementation of the DPA for military and political leaders from the Abdelwahid faction and JEM.”
Most of those leaders participated in the negotiations in Abuja, he said, but stressed that no date had yet been confirmed. Sudanese media reported that about 40 rebel leaders were involved.
While the Nur faction is not militarily strong compared to Minawi’s, mediators have pressed for its inclusion in the peace deal as it represents the Fur ethnic group, the largest in the conflict-torn region of Darfur.
Sudan watchers have warned that the faction’s exclusion from the peace deal could further fuel inter-tribal tension in the region, where peace efforts have been scuppered by feuding among splintered rebel groups.
(ST)