U.S. sees violence easing in Sudan’s Darfur region
WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday violence in Sudan’s Darfur region appeared to be diminishing a day after it cited unconfirmed reports of attacks by government-backed militias despite a cease-fire.
“I would note that the situation appears to have calmed down. At this point it appears to be, I guess I’d say, scaling down. The violence appears to have diminished significantly.” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
On Monday, he cited reports that Sudanese government-backed militias who have been driving black Africans out of the western Sudan region of Darfur and into Chad were continuing attacks despite a cease-fire that went into effect on Sunday.
The United Nations says the fighting, which started in February 2003, has affected more than one million people and forced more than 100,000 refugees over the border into Chad.
Boucher said the United States was keen to see the African Union begin a monitoring mission to track whether the fighting has stopped and that it had offered unspecified “logistical support” to help monitors enter and leave the area.
Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Charles Snyder told a conference the United States had offered to sign an agreement with the African Union to lend some U.S. officials on the ground to help the monitoring mission get going.
The violence in Darfur has complicated the efforts to secure a peace agreement in a separate conflict in southern Sudan between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
The State Department pulled out its key observer at the talks over the weekend to send a signal to the two sides that it was time for them to strike a peace deal, but Boucher said he had now returned to the talks, which have hit a snag over the imposition of Islamic Sharia law in the capital Khartoum.
Snyder said the talks might go on nearly until the April 21 deadline by which the United States must, under the U.S. Sudan Peace Act, make a determination on whether the two sides are negotiating in good faith and could impose sanctions.
“We’re on our 99th draft. Every day I write it and change the ending. I think we are going to be writing it on April 19th,” Snyder said. “I still think that at the end of the day we’re going to get them to blink.”