African leaders reject foreign intervention in Sudan’s Darfur conflict

By KHALED AL-DEEB, Associated Press Writer

TRIPOLI, Libya, Oct 18, 2004 (AP) — Sudan’s president and four African counterparts rejected Monday any foreign intervention in Darfur, describing the bloody humanitarian crisis as an “absolute African issue.”

After an overnight summit, the leaders of Chad, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan issued a statement that seemed to say they would not accept the imposition of sanctions or any other penalties on Sudan by the U.N. Security Council or Western powers.

Sudan faces the threat of U.N. sanctions as the U.N. Security Council investigates allegations leveled by the United States and humanitarian groups that the government and its allied Arab militia have committed genocide against Darfur’s African people.

An estimated 70,000 people have died since conflict broke out in Sudan’s western region early last year. Nearly 1.5 million people have fled their homes, tens of thousands crossing into neighboring Chad. The government denies genocide has occurred.

In their statement, the five presidents expressed approval of what they called Sudan’s “efforts to improve the humanitarian situation … its cooperation with international parties interested in human rights.”

But they also said they hoped “the Sudanese government adopts measures to comply with the demands of (U.N.) Security Council’s resolutions 1556 and 1564” _ which demand that the government disarm all militia and restore law and order in Darfur.

The presidents said they “reject any foreign intervention from any party in this absolute African issue.”

The U.N. Security Council has said it would consider penalties such as sanctions if the Sudanese government fails to comply with its resolutions and restore peace to Darfur.

The presidents called for the respect of “Sudan’s sovereignty, independence, unity and its territorial integrity.”

At the outset of the talks in a Tripoli hotel, the spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the summit aimed to prove that African leaders can solve their own problems.

“What is important is to make Sudan comply with its (international) commitments. Threats of sanctions will not solve the problem,” said spokesman Magid Abdul Fatah.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalqam said: “We are all concerned to find a solution which will not only solve the security and the political problem, but also the humanitarian problem.”

Shalqam and his counterparts discussed Darfur at talks earlier in the day.

Before the presidents broke their daylong Ramadan fast together, it was reported that there was a proposal for Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and Chad to set up a committee to mediate between the Khartoum government and the rebels in Darfur.

The final statement did not mention such a committee, but it said foreign ministers would “form a mechanism to follow up what is being applied on the ground within the African Union framework and report to the leaders.”

The African Union has a small number of monitors in Darfur protected by a few hundred African soldiers. There are plans to increase the number of monitors and troops.

The summit mandated Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who arrived wearing a crimson African robe and headdress, to hold contacts with parties to the Darfur crisis and to coordinate with African leaders.

Delegates from one of the two rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement, came to Tripoli but were not allowed to take part in the summit.

The group’s leader, Khalil Ibrahim, warned the conflict would escalate if Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir were not more conciliatory.

“If the government will not listen to the voice of reason, the battle will move into Khartoum itself,” Ibrahim said.

The larger rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, did not send representatives to Libya.

“We don’t have time to go there without knowing why we’re going there,” said the Britain-based SLA spokesman Abdul Latif.

The two groups took up arms against the government in February 2003, accusing it of neglecting their region and discriminating against Sudanese of African origin. Their move quickly led to a counterinsurgency in which Arab militia raped and killed Africans, looting and burning their villages.

The government denies the widely made allegation that it supports the Arab militia.