ACP urges Sudan to work with UN on Darfur

June 28, 2007 (BERLIN) — The 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries on Wednesday urged Sudan to work with the international community to end the four-year-old conflict in Darfur.

MPs from the group passed a resolution on Darfur at a meeting in Wiesbaden in western Germany in which they also called on Sudan to stop all air raids on Darfur and to disarm Arab militia in the region.

They welcomed a decision by the Sudanese government to allow United Nations troops into Darfur to reinforce 7,000 African soldiers who have failed to halt the bloodshed and called for their rapid deployment.

Khartoum long resisted the move, but bowed under intense international pressure in mid-June and agreed to allow a joint United Nations-African Union force into Darfur.

The conflict in the western Sudanese region pits a rebel insurgency against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and its proxy militia known as the Janjaweed, whose leader stands accused of war crimes.

At least 200,000 people have been killed and two million driven from their homes since February 2003, according to the United Nations. Khartoum says the figures are exaggerated.

(AFP)