France says Geneva meeting meant to help Darfur peace process
March 20, 2008 (PARIS) — The French top diplomat said that his government remains committed to facilitating the stalled Darfur peace process.
“At my request, France has held consultations attended by Mr. Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement, the co-mediators of the United Nations and the African Union, Mr. Jan Eliasson and Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, and representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security” the statement read.
“This meeting is part of France’s commitment for a solution to Darfur crisis, especially in the wake of the ministerial meeting in Paris in June 2007, the vote on Security Council resolution 1769 creating the UNAMID, as well as the deployment of EUFOR in Chad and the MINURCAT* in CAR to address the regional dimension of the crisis.” Kouchner said in a statement issued following the meeting.
On Thursday Al-Nur told Sudan Tribune that the meeting meant to explain what the SLM expects from the international and regional communities in order to facilitate a comprehensive peace settlement in the war-torn region of Darfur.
“We are very thankful to the French Foreign Ministry and the other permanent members of the Security Council to give us this opportunity because we are peace lover and we want it today before tomorrow.” Al-Nur said.
The rebel leader who described the meeting as “very positive” said he exposed the demand of Darfur people for security as prior condition before peace talks. “Our people do not trust this regime which signed two ceasefire agreements but continues to disseminating death and terror among civilians since 2003”.
Kouchner said that the summit “was an opportunity to establish a dialogue between the historic leader of the oldest rebellion in Darfur, and several players from the international community”.
“I would like to thank them most sincerely for having accepted the invitation” he added.
Al-Nur has been accused by many world countries of putting unreasonable conditions for attending peace talks. The SLM leader has long said that he will not attend any peace talks before the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur with a strong mandate to protect civilians.
However the rebel leader conditions appeared to have gained some acceptance in Geneva.
The French foreign minister said in the statement that the participants “agreed on the need to strengthen security on the ground, including through the deployment of the U.N.-African Union mission, UNAMID”.
But Kouchner also noted that Al-Nur “had been asked to play his full part in the diplomatic process led by the co-mediators from the UN and the AU”.
Al-Nur stuck to his conditions in his interview with Sudan Tribune for negotiating with the Sudanese government. He said that violence justifies his rejection of talks with Khartoum unless they stop the violence and killing of innocent civilians.
The SLM leader reiterated that once Khartoum fulfils the “Conflict Suspension” the SLM is disposed to engage the “Conflict Resolution” and negotiate with the Sudanese government to discus the root causes of the problem.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and over 2 million have been driven from their homes during 4-1/2 years of fighting in Darfur. Sudan puts the death toll from the conflict at just 9,000.
(ST)
*MINURCAT = United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad