Sudan foes pledge to end war after Annan plea at rare UN talks

NAIROBI, Nov 18 (AFP) — UN leaders attending a rare Security Council session here won a pledge Thursday that Sudan’s government and main southern rebel group would reach a deal to end their two-decade war this year.

The agreement came after UN chief Kofi Annan warned the special meeting in the Kenyan capital: “There is no time to waste.”

Council president John Danforth said Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) “have indicated that they will sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow committing themselves to … signing a peace agreement by the end of this year.”

“So that is very good news,” he added, describing the Council’s first morning of work as “very encouraging.”

It was the first time the UN Security Council has met outside its New York headquarters in 14 years, highlighting the urgency of the situation. The last time they met outside New York was in 1990, when they gathered in Geneva to hear an address by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who was having problems getting a US visa.

Some 1.5 million people have been killed since rebels from the Christian and animist south rose up against the Arab-led, Islamic Khartoum government in 1983. More than four million have been displaced.

Two years of talks have already led to a series of protocols between Khartoum and the SPLM/A rebels, including key deals on power and wealth sharing.

Addressing the Council in Nairobi, SPLM/A leader John Garang said he was committed to the new year-end deadline.

“I see no reason, no serious obstacle, that would prevent us from signing the final peace agreement by the end of this year 2004,” he said.

However, his negotiating counterpart, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, spoke of signing “as soon as possible.”

What remains to be ironed out, said Danforth, is limited to “almost a math problem” about which side pays for rebel fighters who do not join regular government forces after the peace settlement.

Annan stressed the importance of the deal in bringing peace to the rest of Sudan, saying it would help end the worsening crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where US officials have charged that genocide is taking place.

“I cannot help feeling that the formation of a north/south government in Sudan would add weight and impetus to the search for a settlement in Darfur and elsewhere,” said Annan.

A separate conflict erupted in western Darfur in February 2003 when an indigenous rebellion was put down with the help of Arab militas, spawning what the UN terms the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

These rebels were not however invited to the Nairobi meeting.

The Darfur militias have been blamed for a campaign of ethnic cleansing including rape and pillaging, driving some 1.2 million from their homes.

Warning that Darfur was “rapidly degenerating into chaos and anarchy,” Garang said “this overall situation, if left unchecked can eventually cause Sudan to implode and degenerate into statelessness and serious insecurity.”

“The only way to avert this tragedy is to expedite the (north-south) peace process,” he added.

Annan urged the Council to “send an urgent message” to Khartoum and Darfur’s rebels to strive for a peaceful settlement.

“The terrible situation in Darfur has been brought about mainly by deliberate acts of violence against civilians, including widespread killing and rape,” he said.

“The security situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate,” despite ceasefires being signed, he added, saying government forces, allied militia and rebels had all “breached these agreements.”

“Many innocent civilians continue to suffer as a result. This cannot be allowed to continue. The strongest warning to all the parties that are causing this suffering is essential. We cannot allow impunity,” declared the secretary general.

While the Security Council resolved in July to impose sanctions on Khartoum if it failed to rein in the Darfur militia groups, Danforth said the resolution due to be adopted by the Security Council on Friday in Nairobi would no make new threat of such punitive measures.

Numerous aid agencies have called on the Council to take a tougher stance on Khartoum, saying it should impose sanctions and an arms embargo on the government to protect human rights in Darfur.