French FM praises Sudanese peace overtures in Darfour
PARIS, Feb 23, 2004 (KUNA) — French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin has praised the overtures by Sudan to try to resolve the conflict with rebels in the Darfour region on the border with Chad and he said only concrete progress on these proposals would stabilize the volatile situation.
Commenting the visit February 20-21 to Sudan by de Villepin and his prior visit to Darfour, Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said that the French Minister “praised the proposals” made by Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir, who has urged “a complete halt to military operations” and an end to brutality against civilian populations.
He also recommended that the refugee camps in Darfour be opened up to humanitarian organizations and he called for political dialogue with the rebels.
On his first visit to Sudan, de Villepin met Al-Beshir in Khartoum, along with Vice-President Moses Mashar and Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismael.
He also met with opposition figures and members of Sudanese civil society, officials here said.
De Villepin expressed satisfaction that Sudan, which has had a civil war ongoing since 1955, had finally reached a peace settlement between the authorities in Khartoum and the southern rebel movements led by John Garang under the banner of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA).
The French official expressed his “determination to bring all his support to the peace process so that the hopes born from it are realized,” Ladsous said.
Concerning Darfour, de Villepin remarked that AL-Beshirs proposals should be concretely implemented as a way of halting the violence.