Ireland urges Sudan to stay firm on Darfur deal
July 4, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Irish minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, arrived in Khartoum yesterday to urge the Sudanese government not to falter in efforts to end the three-year conflict in Darfur at a time when a shaky peace deal shows signs of fracturing.
Ahern spent the day meeting government officials, United Nations representatives and aid agencies in the capital and was due to fly to Darfur today.
His visit – the first by a foreign minister since May’s ceasefire agreement between Khartoum government officials and rebel leaders – comes amid mounting concern that that the deal is flawed.
Aid agencies say the agreement is failing to stem the bloodshed, with thousands of people still fleeing violence.
At the weekend, Jan Pronk, head of the UN mission in Sudan, warned that lack of support had stretched the deal to breaking point.
After a private meeting, Ahern said he had urged Lam Akol, the Sudanese foreign minister, to accept the deployment of UN peacekeepers when African Union (AU) troops are due to leave later this year – one of several sticking points with the deal.
“We see the UN as the cornerstone of our own foreign policy as a small nation and we would be very much of the view that the whole concept of the UN is to stabilise the situation and it should be very seriously considered by the Sudanese government,” he said.
Ahern was asked about the prospect of Irish troops being part of any peacekeeping mission. He said it had been discussed by the Taoiseach and Kofi Anan but at the moment he couldn’t really say, as Irish troops were already overstretched around the world.
It is three years since rebels took up arms against the Arab government in Khartoum, accusing it of neglecting the tribes of Darfur.
The government responded with a scorched earth policy, arming mounted Janjaweed fighters against the rebels. Since then an estimated 300,000 people have died and another 2.4 million have fled their homes.
At present some 7,000 African troops are monitoring a shaky ceasefire but the AU plans to give way to a UN force at the end of September as part of a deal signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
However, the deal has little support among many displaced people in Darfur and only one of the region’s rebel groups has signed it.
Ahern said he would pass on the results of his fact-finding mission to other European foreign ministers when they met in a fortnight.
He added that he was very concerned about warnings from aid agencies that they faced greater hostility on the ground since the deal was signed.
“The point that I made to the minister is that the security situation – if it is allowed to exacerbate any more – has a totally destabilising effect on any efforts that are being made to try to wean people towards the agreement.”
In response, Akol said his government was prepared to consider the presence of UN forces but the most important issue was securing an immediate peace, before any deployment would be possible.
“It is not about the UN or AU per se,” he said. “We should be concerned about security in Darfur and we think the Darfur peace agreement is a first step to that.”
Earlier, Ahern met leaders of aid agencies who receive Irish funds, including Trocaire, Concern and Oxfam. They voiced concerns that a hastily contrived peace agreement had made it more difficult to deliver help to vulnerable people.
Raymond Jordan, emergency co-ordinator for Goal, said the deal had splintered rebel groups, making it difficult to know which commander controlled which region, and whether they could guarantee the safety of aid workers.
Vehicles used by NGOs are also being deliberately targeted for hijack. The result, he said, was that Goal had suspended three-quarters of its operations, leaving tens of thousands of people without aid.
“It has always been difficult to work in Darfur but now it is simply not possible to work in the vast majority of our areas. The peace agreement is not working on the ground for women, children and the most vulnerable people, and that’s the reality.”
Ahern also met Pronk to hear his concerns that the peace agreement needed more provisions for security, disarmament and compensation for victims.
(Irish Times)