Sudan’s Darfur ceasefire deal gets cautious welcome
By Ali Abba Kaya
NDJAMENA, April 9 (AFP) — The international community gave a cautious welcome to a ceasefire agreed by Sudan and two rebel groups to stop a year of fighting in the western Darfur region that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan “trusts this agreement will result in an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to attacks against civilians, as well as full humanitarian access to all people in need of assistance and protection”, Annan’s spokesman said in a statement.
“The AU (African Union) Commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare commends the parties for the political will, flexibility and spirit of compromise they have shown,” the pan-African body said in a statement.
Konare urged the parties to live up to their commitments and reconvene soon to agree on a comprehensive peace agreement to end the conflict in Darfur between the government and two rebel groups — the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (MJE).
The war, which erupted in February last year and is described by the UN as the world’s worst current humanitarian disaster, has also displaced about 670,000 inside Sudan, while some 100,000 more have fled into neighbouring Chad.
The ceasefire, struck late on Thursday, was mediated by Chadian government officials in the capital Ndjamena.
Under the terms of the deal, signed after talks attended by Chadian President Idriss Deby, the parties agreed to cease hostilities within 72 hours, for a renewable period of 45 days.
They also agreed to guarantee safe passage for aid to the stricken region, free prisoners of war and disarm militias who have been blamed for much of the violence.
In Washington, the State Department said the agreement was “a crucial first step toward ending the atrocities and reversing the humanitarian crisis in Darfur”.
“The United States will be watching very closely to see that action on the ground is taken in accordance with the agreement,” said spokesman Lou Fintor, adding that Washington remained gravely concerned about the condition of civilians in the troubled region.
Another State Department spokesman, Adam Ereli, told reporters Washington would continue to press Khartoum to stop violence being committed by pro-government militias in Darfur.
The Janjawid, Arab militias allied to government troops, have been accused by the UN and non-governmental organisations of “ethnic cleansing” and atrocities against civilians in the poverty-stricken, largely desert Darfur region.
“We will continue to work with the parties and maintain pressure to ensure that the humanitarian ceasefire agreement is fully implemented and that there is unrestricted humanitarian access to all the needy populations,” he said.
The Sudanese government meanwhile pledged to uphold the ceasefire.
Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail urged the international community to help the people in Darfur as he began a tour of the region along with other Sudanese ministers and representatives of the UN, the US and French embassies.
The rebels in Darfur, a region populated by non-Arab Muslims, contend that their region has been marginalized by the Muslim Arab authorities in Khartoum.
They also fear Darfur will be excluded from a power- and wealth-sharing accord that is being negotiated between Khartoum and separatist rebels from the mainly Christian and animist south to end a civil war that has been going on for two decades.
That conflict has become the longest in Africa and has claimed an estimated 1.5 million lives since 1983.
The parties to the Darfur talks have pledged to meet again within 15 days in Ndjamena for new negotiations over political issues.
Two previous ceasefires had been agreed through Chadian mediation by the Sudanese government and the SLM, but not by the MJE. These accords collapsed relatively quickly.