Roundup: Sudan begins to implement “Plan of Action for Darfur”
KHARTOUM, Aug 15, 2004 (Xinhua) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said here Sunday that his government has begun to take concrete measures to implement the “Plan of Action for Darfur ” it reached with the United Nations.
Ismail told reporters after meeting with UN special envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk that they had discussed ways to fulfill the plan as well as the criteria for setting up safe areas in the Darfur region, western Sudan.
According to the plan reached on Aug. 5, the Sudanese government was given 30 days to set up safe areas in the existing refugee camps and densely populated towns in Darfur so that civilians can get food and water and resume farming without fear of attack.
With the establishment of more and more safe areas in Darfur, people in the region will resume their normal lives, stressed Ismail.
Pronk said he will hold further talks with Ismail on the plan on Aug. 19. Besides, officials from the United Nations and Sudan will arrive in the Darfur region before the end of this month to inspect the plan’s implementation.
So far, the 15-month conflict in the Darfur region has reportedly killed an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people, driven more than 1 million people from their homes to other parts of Sudan and forced some 180,000 to flee to neighboring Chad.
In July, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution, giving the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, which have driven hundreds of thousands of black Africans from their villages in the west of the country, or to face possible sanctions.
The resolution asks UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to report monthly to the council on Sudan’s compliance. His first report will be due on Aug. 30.
SUDAN REJECTS FOREIGN INTERFERENCE
Last Friday, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said his government will not accept foreign interference in Darfur in any case. The government has full confidence that all parties will reach an agreement on ways to resolve the Darfur issue, he said, adding that he has ordered tribal leaders in the region to form security forces to disarm Arab militiamen.
Meanwhile, the president also reiterated his opposition to foreign intervention and the deployment of any foreign troops in Darfur.
“We are not willing to accept any foreign forces, because honestly foreign forces will only complicate the situation,” he said.
A senior Sudanese official said the government will demand rebels in Darfur curb their movements when they meet at peace talks later this month.
“We will call for the limiting of the rebel areas and the places where they have a presence,” official media quoted Northern Darfur State Governor Osman Yousif Kibr as saying.
Earlier, Bashir also expressed his hope to solve the Darfur crisis through peaceful means, saying his government will fulfill its promises to cooperate with the United Nations and the African Union (AU) in realizing security and stability in Darfur.
FIRST AU TROOPS ARRIVE IN SUDAN
The first AU troops, whose task is to protect AU observers monitoring a cease-fire between Khartoum and the rebels, have arrived in Darfur. An advance team of the Rwandan troops, made up of 12 soldiers, arrived on Saturday and went immediately to Al-Fashir, capital of North Darfur state. On Sunday, some 140 other Rwandan soldiers were airlifted into Al-Fashir.
“We welcome the 150 Rwandan soldiers who are going to work as part of the protection force of the AU cease-fire observers in Darfur,” Ismail said to reporters on Saturday.
However, he expressed concern about the nature of the force’s mission. “We are not reserved on the number of the troops but on their mission,” he said. “Any force of an undefined mission will not be acceptable to us.”
On Sunday, a senior Sudanese military official said the AU troops’ mission is only to protect the observers and they do not have the right to take military actions against either side violating the cease-fire agreement.
The Sudanese government is also opposed to transforming the troops into a full-fledged peacekeeping force, he stressed.
The AU is making efforts to help end the armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Darfur. But as the cease-fire reached there in April has been repeatedly violated, the regional bloc has drawn up plans to boost its presence by sending up to 2,000 peacekeepers to Sudan.