US seeking ceasefire talks for Darfur parties in Addis Ababa

April 15, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The US administration wants to push for ceasefire talks between the Darfur warring parties in the Ethiopian capital, according to a newspaper report.

The London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat said that the proposal was agreed on during the visit of the US special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration last week.

The newspaper said if the ceasefire talks succeed they will be followed by full blown peace talks similar to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the North and South.

A 2004 ceasefire agreement signed in Chadian capital went largely ignored by both sides of the conflict. The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed by one major rebel group have failed to stem the violence as other rebel movements refused to sign it.

Furthermore the newspaper said that Gration agreed on a flexible arrangement allowing foreign aid groups to replace those expelled by Sudanese authorities last month.

The ejected relief groups were accused of collaborating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) which last month issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

During his visit to Darfur, Gration backed down from Washington’s insistence on the return of all the expulsed aid groups, saying that alternative ways must be found to continue the humanitarian efforts.

Sudanese officials told Gration said that they are willing to accept new groups on the condition that they employ local staff who worked with the expelled groups. However Khartoum stressed that no expelled worker will be allowed back.

They also promised to facilitate aid works and remove some movement restrictions on aid workers in the conflict ridden region of Darfur.

The US envoy is reported to have promised Sudanese officials of gradual lifting of economic sanctions if Khartoum follows through on their promises.

The US and Sudan have a long history of strained relations. In 1997 former president Bill Clinton imposed comprehensive sanctions on Sudan and designated it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The sanctions were later expanded and stiffened by subsequent US administrations. Moreover the US military launched a rocket attack against a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudanese capital suspected of manufacturing lethal nerve gas.

Relations further worsened over the Darfur conflict which Washington labeled as ‘genocide’ in 2004.

(ST)