Talks continue to seek end to Sudan’s Darfur conflict

NDJAMENA, April 4 (AFP) — The warring sides in Sudan’s Darfur region were due to continue talks here Sunday to try to end a conflict the UN says is the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights catastrophe.

Mediators had not yet managed to get representatives of the Khartoum government and the rebels to talk directly to each other five days after the negotiations kicked off in the Chadian capital.

But both sides agreed to continue the talks for an unspecified duration and were currently considering a deal proposed by the mediators, an advisor to Chadian President Idriss Deby said late Saturday.

The peace plan included a ceasefire, a guarantee that the safety of the civilian population would be secured, and moves to immediately resolve the humanitarian crisis, said advisor Allami Ahmad.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have died in just over a year of skirmishes in Darfur in western Sudan between rebels and government-backed militia groups.

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

United Nations officials have branded the Darfur conflict as currently the “world’s greatest humanitarian and human rights catastrophe.”

The UN High Commission for Human Rights said Friday it hoped to send a team within days to probe allegations of widespread atrocities by government-backed militia in Darfur.

The move came the same day that New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a report urging Khartoum to disarm and disband the militias.

The report, “Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan”, claims Khartoum backs a scorched-earth campaign in the region and that government forces and militias of Arab descent have joined together to kill, rape and loot non-Arab civilians.