Darfur mediator shows optimism on first Sudan visit
July 20, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The new United Nations and African Union mediator for the Darfur peace talks said on Sunday he was impressed to see initiatives for peace and dialogue during his first visit to Sudan since his appointment.
“I was impressed to see… desire and initiatives to start to promote dialogue, peace and stability in Sudan. And this is the direction in which I am going to work in the coming days,” Djibril Yipènè Bassolé said in Khartoum on Sunday.
Although appointed joint African Union-United Nations mediator for Darfur last month, Bassole is still Burkina Faso foreign minister and told reporters that he was on a fact-finding visit to familiarise himself with the issues.
The new UN/AU Chief Mediator for Darfur said, following a meeting with the Sudanese president that his meeting with Omer al-Bashir comes in the framework of aquatinting himself on the situation in Darfur.
He added that he would meet members of the Darfur armed groups and called on the warring parties to work towards bringing about stability in Darfur.
President omar al-Bashir reaffirmed Sudan’s determination to resolve the Darfur crisis, especially following the initiative that was agreed upon by all political forces in the country.
Bassolé is scheduled to start his duties officially in August. He will be based in Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, where is the headquarters of the hybrid peacekeeping force.
The head of the Hybrid Mission Rodolphe Adada briefed Basolé about the current situation in Darfur and the efforts being undertaken to speed up the deployment of the UNAMID peacekeeping force.
Adada assured the Chief Mediator of UNAMID’s full support to make his mission a success. “Your success will be that of UNAMID,” said Adada.
Adada and Bassolé agreed to work closely to complement each other’s efforts, and to send strong signals of impartiality in their approach to all parties to achieve a just and lasting peace in Darfur.
Talking to the press after a meeting with the state minister for foreign affairs, Ali Karti, the new joint chief mediator described the task ahead as “difficult, but not impossible” and said it would be for the Sudanese to define the main priorities of his job.
“We need to call for an end to hostilities to create the conditions for finding a comprehensive political solution,” Bassole added.
Bassole’s who speaks only French was criticised for not speaking Arabic or English in a country where government officials and even some rebels are practically bilingual in those languages. Some said this issue will significantly hamper his job.
However the new mediator showed optimism and insisted that he would be based in the country at the opposed of the former envoys that were criticised for pending too little time in Sudan.
“I’m optimistic. I feel that he’s coming to stay in Sudan, to know about the problems from all the sides, whether the government or the armed groups,” he said.
“We don’t have to focus on that (his language skills). He is a mediator. He has a language. He has a lot of people who can translate,” Karti added.
The state minister advised Bassolé to meet ordinary people who have been on the receiving end of the suffering in Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur as soon as possible.
“They don’t have any voice. The voice now is the voice of the government and the armed groups. So it’s better for him to go to the society to sit with and meet, to know how to cement all… on the way to peace,” he told reporters.
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003. The Sudanese government says 10,000 have been killed.
The conflict began when African ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.
(ST)