Sudan delegations arrive in Nigeria ahead of talks
By Dino Mahtani
ABUJA, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Sudanese Darfur rebels arrived in Nigeria on Sunday ahead of peace talks under the African Union to resolve a conflict that has killed up to 50,000 and displaced more than a million people.
Monday’s talks in Abuja will come two days after the Sudanese government, under threat of sanctions by the United Nations, signed an agreement with the world body to help refugees return to their homes voluntarily and give Darfuris more say in local government.
Representatives of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from Darfur arrived in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Sunday afternoon, ahead of key negotiators and the Sudanese government’s delegation.
“Some people have already arrived, but our delegation will arrive later in the evening. The inaugural meeting will take place tomorrow morning, and after that the working session will get down to setting the agenda,” said Abdel Rahim Khalil, Sudan’s ambassador to Nigeria.”
Previous talks between the two Darfur rebel groups and the government broke down in July after the rebels demanded preconditions, including the disarmament of pro-government Janjaweed militia, which the government rejected.
Airport officials in Abuja confirmed Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa was due to arrive on Monday. Various government delegations including Chad and Eritrea are also expected to attend the talks.
The Darfur revolt broke out after years of conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers over scarce resources. Rebel groups say Khartoum has the armed Arab Janjaweed militia to loot and burn villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Khartoum denies the charge and calls the Janjaweed outlaws. The U.N. says the fighting has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with about 200,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad and more than one million displaced inside Sudan.
Under international pressure, the government has set up safe areas for refugees to return to, and agreed to double the number of police in the vast desert area the size of France.
SAFE AREAS
The United Nations Security Council threatened Sudan with unspecified sanctions unless it showed it had made progress disarming the Janjaweed by the end of August.
Sudan’s efforts at increasing security for the refugees and allowing access for humanitarian aid have brought qualified praise from the United Nations. A senior British official has said the United Nations is unlikely to impose sanctions.
The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Manuel Aranda da Silva, said he was encouraged by Sudan’s actions to improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur, but said the main obstacle to reaching all those in need was capacity and funding.
“I am very encouraged by the fact that the capabilities on the ground are increasing,” he told reporters, adding there was still a long way to go. “I feel that a lot of effort is being made on the part of the government.”
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Sudan had already begun to deploy police to safe areas and redeploy armed forces around them to prevent militia attacks on refugees.
He said Sudan had arrested seven of 13 people accused of producing a fake video of soldiers raping villagers in Darfur, and five had confessed to fabricating the video.
Rights groups say there is a systematic campaign of rape in Darfur by armed forces and militias, which Sudan denies. U.N. official Jean-Marie Fakhouri told Reuters on Friday refugees had told him they had been raped as recently as a few days ago.