Darfur peace talks reopen in Nigeria
ABUJA, Oct 22, 2004 (Xinhua) — The Sudanese government and rebel groups from the country’s western Darfur region resumed African Union-brokered peace talks here on Thursday.
The delegates gathered for a short opening session in Abuja. But the chairperson of the talks, special envoy of the African Union (AU) for Darfur, Hamid Algabid, said the talks are to be suspended till Monday, and expected to last three weeks or more.
The delay would allow some delegates still in Chad to arrive. According to reports on Thursday, unspecified problems with a plane have grounded dozens of delegates of Darfur’s two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement, in Chad’s N’djamena.
The three sides are expected to discuss humanitarian and security protocols agreed in last month’s talks in Abuja, covering refugee protection, aid deliveries and a cease-fire, with the AU saying it’s confident of achieving concrete results.
The peace talks is yet another effort by the AU to solve African problems by Africans. The AU has made headway into resolving the Darfur conflict since a summit in Ethiopia in July, but the process remained slow.
The UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, said Thursday that the outlook for the talks remains uncertain.
The resumption of the talks coincided with an AU decision to increase the number of African troops in the conflict area.
The AU envisions a 3,320-strong mission with 2,341 military personnel, 815 civilian police and 164 civilian staff, said a communique after a one-day meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council.
It said the enhanced mission shall be headed by a special representative of the AU Commission, who shall ensure the overall direction and coordination of the activities of the mission and shall maintain close contact with the Sudanese parties, as well as the United Nations and all other concerned actors to ensure harmonization and coordination of efforts.
The Sudanese government has expressed its support for the enhancement of the mission and pledged full cooperation in this regard.
However, the AU has not given the date for sending more troops to the Darfur region.
UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said on Thursday that security for aid workers in the Darfur area has worsened. He stressed the importance of quickly deploying the promised troops and monitors from the AU.
Meanwhile, a second round of dialogue between the Sudanese government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is an umbrella group including southern Sudanese rebels and the SLA, opened in Cairo late Thursday.
The 20-member government delegation was headed by Minister of Federal Rule Nafei Ali Nafei while the NDA side was led by its Vice President Abdel Rahman Saed.
The SLA was not present at the opening session of the meeting and will arrive in Cairo on Friday.
NDA spokesman Hatem El Ser said Wednesday that dialogue between the two sides would be conducted through four committees to cover constitutional, legal, economic and political issues.
According to a UN report, the Darfur crisis, which began 20 months ago, has so far claimed many lives, with many more displaced.