Sudan pledges total cooperation with Darfur hybrid force – Italy

September 15, 2007 (ROME) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has promised “total cooperation” with a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, Italy’s prime minister has told the UN chief, officials here said Saturday.

In a telephone call late Friday after talks with Beshir in Rome, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi also informed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the Khartoum government’s commitment to a ceasefire in the war-torn region.

He told Ban that the Sudanese leader had offered him “the assurance of total cooperation for the deployment” of the hybrid force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, according to a statement from Prodi’s office.

Beshir also offered a “commitment to a unilateral ceasefire with rebel groups who did not sign the Abuja peace deal” in 2006, it said.

This agreement was only signed by one rebel group, but the others met in UN- and African Union-mediated talks in Tanzania last month to establish a common platform for negotiations with Khartoum.

Talks between the government and rebels are due in Tripoli from October 27.

Prodi also said he had told Beshir about “the concerns of Europe and the international community” about the humanitarian and human rights situation in Darfur.

The UN estimates that at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million displaced in Darfur since 2003, when Beshir’s government enlisted Janjaweed Arab militia allies to help put down an ethnic minority rebellion.

Khartoum contests the UN figure, claiming only 9,000 people have been killed in the violence.

In a press conference in Rome late Friday, Beshir said he would like the coming negotiations to be “final”, but added that he believed “a number of factions are not ready for peace”.

The Sudanese leader also held talks with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Italy, which was due to end Saturday.

Beshir, who arrived in Italy on Thursday, is understood to have returned to Khartoum after the talks.

(AFP)