US concerned about Sudan government ‘setback’

October 13, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The United States said Friday it was concerned that a Sudanese former rebel group’s decision to quit the government was a setback to peace efforts in the volatile country.

“We are concerned that recent events in Sudan threaten to set back efforts to achieve peace in Darfur and throughout Sudan,” said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, referring to Sudan’s war-stricken western region.

The southern former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) suspended its participation in the national unity government on Thursday, accusing Khartoum of failing to implement a peace deal.

The SPLM and its armed wing signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Khartoum in 2005, ending 21 years of war between the Muslim north and Christian and animist south that killed at least two million people and displaced millions more.

“We are concerned that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement has decided to suspend its participation in the Government of National Unity because of a deadlock with the National Congress Party over implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” Casey said in a statement.

“We condemn the recent cycle of violence in Darfur and the ongoing harassment of humanitarian workers by hostile groups,” he added.

Sudan’s dominant National Congress Party on Friday slammed its former southern partners for undermining the peace deal by pulling out of the government.

The move also drew expressions of concern from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

It raised fears it would complicate planned October 27 peace talks between Khartoum and rebels from Sudan’s western Darfur region, where the rebels accuse the military and militia of increased attacks after four years of civil war.

The Congress has accused the SPLM of selling out to foreign interests by withdrawing from government, while the former rebels have charged Khartoum with dragging its heels over implementing the two-year-old peace accord.

The sides also accuse each other of failing to meet agreements to withdraw troops from one another’s territory under the peace deal.

Casey called on both sides “to refrain from violence, immediately withdraw their armed forces along the north-south border” according to the deal, and “redouble their efforts to fully implement the agreement in good faith.”

(AFP)