Sudan opens talks with rebels over Darfur ‘catastrophe’

NDJAMENA, March 30 (AFP) — Talks between the Sudanese government and rebels to try to end an increasingly bloody conflict in the western Darfur region, described by the UN as a humanitarian catastrophe, got underway under a cloud.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have died in just over a year of vicious skirmishes between the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and militia groups in the region.

A Sudanese government delegation refused to take part in the opening ceremony in the Chadian capital because it objected to the presence of international observers, but insisted it would join the formal talks.

“Our absence from the room (during the opening ceremony) does not indicate a refusal to negotiate,” Sudan’s secretary of state for foreign affairs Tidjani al-Fidail told AFP in Ndjamena.

“Apparently there are others who are trying to play at being observers, which was not planned,” he said.

Representatives of the European Union, the United States and the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based organisation which aids peace talks, were in Ndjamena as “facilitators” at the talks.

Chadian President Idriss Deby, under whose auspices the negotiations are being held, confirmed that formal discussions between the sides would go ahead on Wednesday at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) as planned.

The opening formalities at the talks took place as the Sudanese authorities announced the arrest of 10 Sudanese army officers suspected of playing a role in an apparent military coup attempt related to the Darfur fighting.

Earlier the Sudanese government said it was optimistic there would be some movement as a result of the Ndjamena talks.

Kamal al-Obaid, external relations secretary of Sudan’s ruling National Congress, told AFP: “Deby’s success in managing to bring the warring parties together is a promising sign that the talks he is sponsoring will be a success.”

The Darfur unrest erupted in February 2003 between the government and rebels, who complain their region has been marginalised.

The fate of the people in the Darfur region has caused growing concern within the international community in recent weeks as the true scale of human rights violations and atrocities there has become apparent.

An estimated 670,000 people have been forced from their homes, many seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, earlier this month described the conflict as “the world’s greatest humanitarian and human rights catastrophe”.

Kapila said most of the atrocities were being carried out by militia groups fighting the rebels.

Experts from the UN Commission on Human Rights have described “systematic” human rights abuses and demanded punishment for those responsible.

“It is reported that the population in Darfur … has been the victim of systematic human rights violations, committed by the government allied militia such as the Janjaweed, Muraheleen and the popular defence forces,” the statement added.

Experts said militias had killed civilians, attacked refugees, raped women and girls, abducted children, burned and looted villages and destroyed livestock.

The Sudanese government delegation leader at the talks, Investment Minister Al-Sherif Ahmed Omar Badr, told reporters that the Chad meeting would pave the way for a comprehensive conference on peace, development and coexistence presently being prepared.

However, no date or venue has yet been set for any such conference.

Meanwhile the Sudanese authorities embarked on a systematic purge of civilians and military officers with connections to Darfur after suspicions a coup attempt was about to be launched.

At least 10 officers were arrested, a source close to the government said, although he refused to give further details or identify the officers involved.

“It is true that 10 or 11 officers of the armed forces have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in an attempted military coup d’etat,” the official who did not wish to be named told AFP.

The officers arrested were thought to belong to the Islamist opposition Popular Congress (PC).

The authorities launched a wave of arrests against party officials and axed or transferred several officers in the army, police and security services who originated from Darfur, it said.

The accusations of Darfur involvement in a coup attempt were a pretext for “a crushing military campaign against the people of Darfur,” the party said.