Ceasefire deal expected between Darfur rebels, Sudan government: diplomat
NDJAMENA, April 8 (AFP) — Members of the Sudanese government and rebels from the western Darfur region have agreed on how to handle humanitarian issues arising from the 14-month war in the area, and are likely soon to reach a ceasefire agreement, a diplomat said Thursday.
Delegations from Khartoum and rebel forces from Darfur were locked in closed-door talks until 3:00 am (0200 GMT) discussing a plan to sign a renewable 45-day ceasefire accord, said a diplomat who asked not to be named.
First signs of a breakthrough in efforts by Chad to mediate a settlement to end the Darfur conflict came when the two sides began direct talks here Tuesday. The fighting has claimed more than 10,000 lives since February 2003.
The United Nations and the US government have expressed great alarm at the plight of 670,000 people displaced inside Sudan and a further 100,000 who have fled across the border into eastern Chad.
Diplomats close to the talks gave no details of what had been agreed on the humanitarian front, but an anonymous source said the ceasefire deal had stalled on secondary issues.
Khartoum’s delegates, the source told AFP, did not want an eventual agreement to contain references to Janjawid, Arab militias allied to government troops.
These forces have been accused by the UN and non-governmental organisations of “ethnic cleansing” and “atrocities” against civilians. The rebels insisted that references to Janjawid should be included in an accord, the source said.
Once the face-to-face talks were under way, Chadian President Idriss Deby announced that the agenda covered: “One, humanitarian issues, two, the ceasefire, three, the political questions.”
The two sides were due to resume their negotiations, attended by international observers and diplomats representing the African Union, mid-morning on Thursday.
US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged the Khartoum government to take immediate action to end “atrocities” in Darfur, saying fighting there “has opened a new chapter of tragedy in Sudan’s troubled history.”
“The Sudanese government must immediately stop local militias from committing atrocities against the local population and must provide unrestricted access to humanitarian aid agencies. I condemn these atrocities, which are displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians.”
In a statement issued in Texas, Bush said he had expressed his concern directly to Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir.
In Geneva, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday told the UN Human Rights Commission that reports of “ethnic cleansing” and atrocities in the western region of Sudan “leave me with a deep sense of foreboding.
“It is vital that international humanitarian workers and human rights experts be given full access to the region, and to the victims, without further delay,” Annan said.
“If that is denied, the international community must be prepared to take swift and appropriate action,” he added.
“By ‘action’ in such situations I mean a continuum of steps, which may include military action,” he emphasised.