UN envoy vows to make progress on Darfur peace process

December 12, 2007 (KHARTOUM) – The United Nations Special Envoy for Darfur pledged to speed up the momentum of the talks in the next few weeks so that direct negotiations can take place between the government and the war-wracked region’s rebel movements.

Jan Eliasson said yesterday in Khartoum, at the end of his visit to Khartoum and Darfur that the recent round of meetings has given the mediators extra energy to push towards a successful conclusion.

But he warned that “the negotiations do not exist in a vacuum. We also have to take into account the reality on the ground – the political reality that is also complicating our work.” the UN News service reported.

The consultations involving Eliasson and other UN and AU officials are the latest efforts of the two organizations to broker a comprehensive peace accord to quell the violence and humanitarian suffering in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others displaced since 2003.

Eliasson said Tuesday that for the peace process to work, “I have come to the conclusion that we have to have the right developments on four different levels: the Security Council; the regional countries; the Government of Sudan and the movements. All four have to pull in the same direction. If we have a situation where one of these four circles is not pulling in the same direction, we do not seem to get peace.”

Direct negotiations between the government and the rebel groups movements are supposed to form the third phase of a three-part process that began with talks between the two sides in Sirte, Libya, in late October.

He noted that the improved climate in the Security Council and the growing cooperation of the regional countries means that the crucial issue has become whether the Government and the movements will head in the same directions on talks.

“We will do our very best to bring that about, but the environment in some regards is not conducive, and I hope that the Government of Sudan and the movements will take the responsibility to prepare for the talks to begin as soon as possible in the New Year.”

The UN and AU are deploying a hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) to Darfur at the start of next year to take over from the existing but under-resourced AU mission (AMIS), but objections and obstacles raised by the Sudanese Government and a lack of offers for critical force units have left the deployment in jeopardy, senior UN officials have warned.

(ST)