Darfur talks resume in bid to resolve differences over no-fly zone
By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI, Associated Press Writer
AABUJA, Nigeria, Nov 05, 2004 (AP) — Disagreement over the creation of a proposed no-fly zone in Sudan’s troubled Darfur was stalling the signing of a security accord between government and rebels who met for another day of talks Friday in Nigeria’s capital.
African Union mediators and Western diplomats have been trying for two weeks to broker an accord to end fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region, which has uprooted 1.6 million people and killed tens of thousands.
On Thursday, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo — the talks’ host — met with rebels and government officials to break the deadlock over one key article in the draft: imposing flight restrictions over Darfur.
“The headache is the question of the no-fly zone all over Darfur,” said Ibrahim Mohamed Ibrahim, spokesman for Sudan’s government delegation, just before talks resumed Friday. “We are negotiating on that exclusive point.”
The draft calls for “an effective cease-fire on land and air, in particular: refraining from all hostilities and military actions.”
Pressure from Obasanjo and other nations appeared to have yielded results when both rebel groups at the talks announced at late-night talks on Thursday that they would sign the accord, without any amendments.
However, the Sudanese government left the talks still refusing to sign. The head of the government delegation, Majzoub Khalifa, said he would only accept the restriction on flights in return for a promise by rebels to confine themselves to specified garrisons.
He also objected to a sentence obliging the government to disarm ethnic Arab Janjaweed militia, saying the word “Janjaweed” needed to be clearly defined.
“The Sudan Liberation Army has agreed to sign, and the Justice and Equality Movement has agreed,” said Mahgoub Hussain, spokesman for the SLA rebel group. “The government doesn’t want to sign.”
Sudan’s Arab-dominated government is widely accused of mounting bombing raids in coordination with ground attacks by Arab tribal militia on the villages of non-Arab African farmers.
Sudan’s government is accused of backing ethnic Arab militia, the so-called Janjaweed, in a campaign of violence — including rapes, killings and the burning of villages — to help put down a 20-month rebellion by non-Arab African groups. The government denies backing the militias.
Hardships including disease and malnutrition are believed to have killed more than 70,000 of the displaced within Darfur since March. Many more have been killed in fighting since the conflict broke out in February 2003, although there is no firm estimate of the direct toll of the war.
The talks began in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, two weeks ago after two earlier rounds collapsed.
The top U.N. envoy to Sudan warned the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the vast Darfur region could easily descend into anarchy if thousands of extra African Union peacekeepers are not deployed quickly and peace negotiations speeded up.
“Fighting is breaking out in more and more places. Parties are provoking one another. Militias are ganging up,” he said. “If this negative trend is not reversed it is a recipe for disaster.”