Egypt renews call for diplomatic settlement to Darfur crisis

CAIRO, July 20, 2004 (Xinhua) — Egypt renewed Tuesday its call for a diplomatic settlement to the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, warning that pressure and sanctions could backfire.

“We understood from our contacts with Sudanese officials that Khartoum is willing to cooperate with honest international efforts to settle the crisis diplomatically,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told reporters after a meeting with British peace envoy to Sudan, Alan Goulty.

Abul Gheit said that Sudanese officials did work for containing the situation in Darfur and facilitating supply of humanitarian relief to refugees who have fled the turbulent region.

For his part, Goulty described the situation in Darfur as disastrous, and warned against a possible crisis after the collapse of talks between the Khartoum government and the Darfur rebels.

On Saturday, peace talks between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in western region of Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM), ended without any progress in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The rebel groups took up arms against the government in February last year due to what they claimed that their region was neglected by the successive Sudanese governments.

The Sudanese government has been under mounting pressure to end the conflict in Darfur, which has left about 10,000 people dead.