Straw to urge Sudan to end Darfur crisis and reach settlement with rebels
By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
LONDON, Aug 22, 2004 (AP) — Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flies to Sudan on Monday to press the government to end the humanitarian crisis engulfing the western region of Darfur.
Officials say Straw will urge Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir to rein in and bring to justice Arab militias accused of killing and raping black African farmers and destroying their villages.
The United Nations Security Council has given Khartoum until Aug. 30 to disarm the militias or face diplomatic and economic penalties.
Straw will also encourage the government to reach a political settlement with two African rebel groups, at peace talks scheduled to be held in Nigeria on Monday.
“The roots of this crisis are deep and complicated, but we are all clear that only a political solution will fix them,” said a senior Foreign Office official, on customary condition of anonymity.
“I don’t think we are yet seeing compelling evidence that known perpetrators within the reach of the government of Sudan are being brought to justice and that is clearly something that we do want to see.”
The United Nations says Darfur has become the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since African rebels rose against the government in February 2003, claiming discrimination in the distribution of scarce resources.
U.N. officials accuse the government of trying to crush the revolt by backing a scorched earth policy carried out by Arab militias known as the Janjaweed.
Khartoum has long denied such accusations, although according to the U.N., it acknowledged last week that it has “control” over some Janjaweed fighters and has promised in the coming week to give the world body a list of militants suspected of involvement in the bloodshed.
Straw is scheduled to meet with el-Bashir, Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail during the two day visit. He will also visit the Abu Shouk camp, near the city of Al-Fashir, which is home to some 57,000 refugees.
There he plans to visit the headquarters of the African Union, which has some 80 observers on the ground, protected by 150 Rwandan troops, to monitor the rarely adhered to April 8 cease-fire.
Britain gave 2 million pounds (US$3.6 million) to help fund the mission and is trying to encourage further international support.
Before leaving Khartoum for South Africa, Straw will also meet with U.N. special representative to Sudan, Jan Pronk.
London says it has a moral responsibility to help end the crisis in Darfur, which it sees as an obstacle to a comprehensive peace agreement for the whole of Sudan. Britain is the world’s largest cash donor to Sudan, and has allocated 62.5 million pounds (US$112.5 million) between September 2003 and March 2005.
Like other Western nations, Britain is keen for the African Union to take the lead, finding African solutions for African problems, but has not ruled out military intervention of its own.
“We rule nothing out, but we are not at that stage yet,” Prime Minister Tony Blair said last month when asked if he would send British forces to Sudan.