Sudanese president visits west Sudan for peace talks with rebels
KHARTOUM, Sudan, April 27, 2004 (AP) — Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir flew to the main town in Sudan ‘s troubled Darfur Tuesday and called on rebels to work for peace, state-run radio announced.
The Sudanese government has blamed the rebels for violence in Darfur. The U.N. and human rights groups, though, accuse the government of committing crimes against humanity in its campaign to put down the uprising in the western region.
The radio said el-Bashir led a delegation of politicians and government officials on a one-day visit to address a rally in Al-Fashir. It quoted him as appealing to the rebels to “listen to the voice of reason” and bring peace to the region.
He promised to develop the region’s roads and health, water and education systems and said the rebels should “work for the rehabilitation and building of Darfur and contribute to the return of refugees and internally displaced persons…”
Thousands of people are believed to have died and tens of thousands fled their homes since early 2003, when two rebel groups in Darfur took up arms to fight for autonomy and greater state aid. Darfur is one of the poorest regions in Sudan and for years has seen clashes between agrarian Africans and Arab herdsmen over grazing areas.
The U.N. and international human rights organizations accuse Sudan ‘s Arab-dominated central government of trying to squash the Darfur rebellion by backing raids by Arab tribesmen against African villages.
A leaked U.N. report has accused Sudanese forces of raping non-Arab women and girls and bombing civilians.
The Sudanese government denies the charges of complicity in atrocities. Tuesday, the president hailed his army, saying it had stood against “colonial plots that seek to undermine the unity of the homeland.”
The government signed a 45-day cease-fire with the rebels April 8, opening the way to visits like the president’s Tuesday and one by his humanitarian affairs minister last week. Aid agencies are also slowly starting to work again in Darfur and U.N. human rights investigators reached the region last week.