U.S. hopes for cease-fire in Sudan’s Darfur area
WASHINGTON, May 27 (Reuters) – The United States hopes Sudan and rebels in Darfur will implement a cease-fire this week to staunch a humanitarian crisis threatening hundreds of thousands of lives, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
The momentum for a new agreement in the west of Africa’s largest country emerged after the government signed an accord on Wednesday over a separate long-running civil war in the south, Assistant Secretary of State Charles Snyder said.
“I am actually hoping for good news … tomorrow (Friday) or the next day, putting teeth in the cease-fire agreement,” the top U.S. diplomat for Africa told reporters.
The Sudanese government had assured him it was ready for an “implementation mechanism” agreement that should make a cease-fire hold and allow full international monitoring within a month, Snyder said.
The sides have already agreed a cease-fire in principle but persistently broken it.
The United States and the United Nations have accused government-backed militias in Darfur of ethnic cleansing in their campaign to crush a revolt from rebels complaining Khartoum has neglected the area.
The fighting has hampered aid deliveries reaching Darfur. The government has also restricted relief, drawing international outrage especially because there remains little time to fly in aid due to an oncoming rainy season.
But a long-delayed settlement, hammered out in Naivasha, Kenya, over the southern conflict has spurred all sides to end the Darfur crisis, Snyder said.
“I think we are going to see a turnaround in Darfur … I am optimistic that Naivasha will begin to reverse (Darfur),” Snyder said. “There is a peace fever in Khartoum.”
The United States, which has no ambassador in Sudan and has imposed sanctions on the oil-rich nation, has also intensified its pressure on the government. Washington has warned there will be no improvement in ties unless Khartoum stops the militias and allows aid into the region.
“You can’t get the rewards, you can’t get the new Sudan you want when Darfur is on fire and bleeding the way it is,” Snyder said.