Darfur could endanger south Sudan peace talks – Red Cross

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

GENEVA, Aug 27, 2004 (AP) — The conflict in Sudan ‘s western Darfur region is endangering separate talks to end a 21-year civil war in the south of the African country, the international Red Cross said Friday.

Darfur “has now basically eclipsed this peace process, which has been the major headline in Sudan for the best part of two years,” said Dominik Stillhart, Sudan chief for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“There remains plenty of potential for conflict” in both regions, he said.

Sudan ‘s civil war erupted in 1983 when rebels from the mostly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Muslim, Arab north.

More than 2 million people have died in Africa’s longest-running conflict, mainly through war-induced famine, but fighting has slowed since the warring parties began peace talks in July 2002.

The 18-month-long uprising in Darfur – a region the size of France – is threatening the stability of the rest of country. International relief workers have described the conflict in Darfur, where more than a million people have been driven from their homes in attacks by government-backed militias, as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Stillhart said the civil war in the south of Sudan , where the government is hoping to secure a peace accord with the rebel Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, was one of the reasons behind the violence in Darfur.

“We are on the verge of a historic peace deal,” Stillhart said about the conflict in the south. But this has been threatened by groups in Darfur who “saw a chance to take up arms and be involved in the peace process.”

Sudanese government officials and Darfur rebels began talks earlier this week to find a way to include the region in a wider peace settlement.

“We obviously did not anticipate that Darfur would deteriorate to the point it has today,” Stillhart told reporters.