Sudan “must do more to protect civilians” – Straw
ABUJA/KHARTOUM, Aug 24, 2004 (dpa) — As British Foreign Minister Jack Straw visited Sudan’s western Darfur region during his two-day factfinding mission, day two of peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels got underway in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Tuesday.
During a visit to Abu Shouk camp in northern Darfur, Straw told reporters the government of Sudan had made some progress in protecting civilians in Darfur, but said it must do more.
Straw said the camps for displaced people seemed quite safe, but voiced concern over the situation in surrounding villages.
“Talking to people here, it is very clear they are still very anxious, apprehensive and nervous about whether they will be safe to go back to the villages from where they have come,” Straw told reporters at Abu Shouk camp.
Earlier he had made clear that the purpose of his visit to Sudan was to urge the government to do more to rein in the Janjaweed militia and end atrocities committed against civilians in Darfur.
Straw returned to Khartoum in the afternoon and held talks with president Omar al-Bashir, local media said. He was due to address a press conference later on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the second day of African Union-sponsored talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels began in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Delegates resumed their meeting behind closed doors at midday Tuesday. The first day of talks Monday saw little progress, with the parties reportedly unable to agree on an agenda for the meeting.
Reports from the first day of talks said rebels wanted to discuss political issues such as power-sharing, while the government wants to talk only about security.
The head of the government delegation, Majzoub al-Khalifa, said it was the role of the government to simultaneously disarm both the rebels and the Janjaweed militia.
This standpoint was protested by the rebels, who said the government was still bombing and killing them, and they would not let themselves be disarmed by their enemy.
The talks began a week before the United Nations is to review progress made by the Sudanese government in disarming the Janjaweed militia – held responsible for atrocities in Darfur – and in improving the humanitarian situation there.
“We need to act quickly. Let us bear in mind the suffering of refugees and displaced persons, dislocations caused by attacks and counterattacks by militia groups,” Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, current chair of the African Union, said at the opening of the talks.
Previous talks between Khartoum and the rebels collapsed in July after the rebels walked out, saying the government had not met their demands.
A U.N. official said Monday the United Nations and the international community were “far too slow” in responding to the crisis in Darfur.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland predicted victims in the region would die because of a lack of aid.
“If we do not get the money, people will die. Not because of government or rebel attacks, but because we do not have sufficient resources,” Egeland said, according to the Norwegian news agency NTB.
The U.N. and other relief agencies still needed “between 100 and 200 million dollars to get all our aid operations going,” he said.
The conflict in Darfur, which has lasted for 18 months, started when two groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebeled against the government, saying they were not being given a fair share of the country’s resources.
The government then allegedly unleashed the Arab Janjaweed militia, arming them and giving them air support. The militias have since raped and killed thousands of civilians in Darfur, according to reports by aid and human rights organizations.