US Powell presses Sudan on access to Darfur, peace deal with southern rebels
WASHINGTON, April 26 (AFP) — US Secretary of State Colin Powell turned up the heat on Sudan to open its crisis-torn western region of Darfur to international relief workers and move speedily to finalize a long-expected but much-delayed peace agreement with southern rebels.
The situation in Darfur is very bad,” he said. “We have tens upon tens of thousands of people who are suffering. The rainy season will come in a few weeks and we have got to get aid into them before that and bring this tragedy to an end before it gets any worse.”
Powell said he had spoken to Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail on Sunday to press Khartoum to allow full and unhindered access to Darfur, where an armed conflict has killed more than 10,000 and displaced one million people since early last year.
“I asked him to do everything possible to facilitate the conversations that need to take place between representatives of the African Union, the European Union, the United States and other organizations ready to provide aid to the suffering people of Darfur,” he said.
The United Nations has referred to the Darfur conflict as the worst current humanitarian crisis in the world and rights groups have said atrocities are still being committed by government-backed militias in the region despite a ceasefire deal reached earlier this month.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States continued to receive reports that the pro-Khartoum militias were killing civilians, forcing people from their homes and burning villages.
“This situation in Darfur, as it continues, has been of grave concern to us and very serious to us,” he said.
In remarks in Khartoum Saturday, Ismail acknowledged that there had been human rights violations in Darfur but denied allegations of ethnic cleansing.
Amid uncertain prospects for lasting peace in Darfur, Powell also urged Ismail to move rapidly to forge a settlement with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Kenyan mediated talks being held outside Nairobi at Lake Naivasha.
“I … encouraged him to do everything he could to move the process along at Lake Naivasha to see if we can come up with the comprehensive agreement that we have been working on for so many months,” Powell said.
“We are getting closer and closer … but we never quite get to the end of the game and I hope we can see some more progress on that in the next couple of days,” he said.
The Naivasha talks are now deadlocked on whether Islamic law would apply in Khartoum during an envisaged six-year transition period when the city will serve as the joint capital for an interim administration before a referendum on self-determination for the south.
On Sunday, during a trip to Bahrain, Ismail said Khartoum was hopeful of reaching a peace agreement with southern rebels soon and is prepared to make concessions when necessary.