Darfur ceasefire commission to hold first meeting Saturday in Chad

NDJAMENA, June 30 (AFP) — A commission in charge of monitoring a ceasefire in western Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region will hold its first meeting at the weekend in the Chadian capital, Chad’s President Idriss Deby told reporters here Tuesday.

The commission, which will meet Saturday, comprises representatives of the Khartoum government and two rebel groups which have been fighting it in Darfur since February last year; Chadian mediators and members of the international community.

Chaired by Nigerian General Festus Okonkwo, the commission is tasked with “verifying and guaranteeing the implementation of the ceasefire” signed on April 8 between Khartoum and the Darfur rebel groups after talks in Ndjamena.

It also studies complaints of ceasefire violations, of which there have been many since the truce took effect on April 11.

The Sudanese government and rebels from the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement agreed in May to the deployment of international observers of a ceasefire in Darfur.

In the long term, some 120 observers from the African Union, European Union, United States, Sudanese government, the two Darfur rebel movements and Chad will be deployed in Darfur to monitor the truce, according to the AU.

A rebellion broke out in Darfur in February 2003, and the Sudanese government and pro-Khartoum Arab militias known as Janjawids have been accused of killings and massive human rights abuses, which have left at least 10,000 dead and up to a million displaced.