Sudanese welcome Darfur peace protocols

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Nov 11, 2004 (PANA) — Sudanese nationals have welcomed the signing Tuesday of humanitarian and
security peace protocols in Abuja, Nigeria by parties
to the Darfur conflict.

Sudanese women pray in a makeshift mosque at an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Sudan’s troubled Darfur.

Citizens who spoke to PANA in Khartoum described the move
as a step in the right direction, that would ease the
suffering of the people in Sudan’s volatile western region.

The Sudanese government and the two Darfur main rebel groups — Sudan Liberian Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) — signed the protocols at the African Union AU-brokered peace talks in the Nigerian capital.

“This is a major step in efforts by the Sudanese people and
the international community to resolve the conflict,” said
Mohammed Abdalla, a taxi operator in Khartoum.

Abdalla, who returned to Sudan two month’s from Libya where he worked as an accountant, however, said “the ultimate solution lies with the Sudanese people to restore peace to the restive region.”

According to him, there would be no winner but losers in the
conflict that erupted in February 2003.

Speaking in the same vein, Hussein Mohammed, an electronics
engineer said Sudan could only industrialise when there is
peace in the entire country.

He noted that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and
the government signed a peace deal in Naivasha, Kenya last
May on the crisis in South Sudan.

For Abdikadir Omar, a hotelier, not much can be achieved in
the absence of unity.

“We are one people, one nation, Sudan is one, let us unite and go about our activities without fear of intimidation of
discrimination,” he said, expressing the hope that government
and the rebels would respect the accords.

David Gai, a third-year medical student at the Upper Nile
University Khartoum campus said: “I welcome any move geared
towards restoring peace in Darfur, it’s good for the country.”

“Our Foreign Affairs Minister (Mustapha Ismaiel) has articulated our position on Darfur at many fora, restoration of peace in the region is of paramount importance,” said an official who asked not to be named.

At the signing ceremony in Abuja, Nigerian President and AU chair, Olusegun Obasanjo, called for a full implementation of the agreements.

The signing marked the end of the second round of the Darfur
talks, which opened in Nigeria 25 October.