Sudan hopes to reach Darfur deal by Dec. 31

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Sudan hopes to reach a peace agreement to end fighting in its troubled Darfur region by the end of the year, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said on Monday.

A boy sleeps in the shade of a grass shelter at Zam Zam camp near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, November 22, 2004. (Reuters).

The U.N. Security Council met in Kenya last week, the site of talks on ending Africa’s longest civil war in Sudan’s south, where it also passed a resolution urging all sides of the separate Darfur conflict to reach a political deal negotiations in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“We hope that they (the Abuja talks) will follow the same path as the talks in Kenya and that they will finish in the same time frame which has been decided for the talks in Kenya — Dec. 31,” he told reporters.

War broke out in Darfur in early 2003 when African rebels charging the government with neglect launched a revolt.

Since then, 1.6 million Darfuris have fled their homes for fear of attack by camel-riding Arab militia the government is accused of mobilizing to crush the rebels.

Khartoum says the attacks on Darfuris were carried out by “outlaws” and it is not responsible for their actions.

Since March alone, the United Nations estimates 70,000 people have died of hunger and disease as a result of the conflict and the U.N. has threatened Sudan with possible sanctions if it does not stop the violence.

The two main Darfur rebel groups and the government have signed two protocols relating to humanitarian and security issues but have yet to agree on political issues. They are due to restart talks on Dec. 10 in Abuja.

But efforts to reach a negotiated settlement in Darfur have been hampered by continued violence.

Ismail told reporters in Khartoum that a group of 10 rebel forces attacked police in the Kalma camp in South Darfur state in the early hours of Monday, killing four police. Three rebels were also killed, and three were injured, he said.

Rebels also attacked Tawilla town in North Darfur state, he added, killing many police. He said they were still present in the town with army and police trying to bring the violence under control.

“One of these injured who was arrested explained that they came from a rebel camp called Arreel,” Ismail said. “We informed the CFC (African Union Cease-fire Commission).”

The captured rebels named commander Gibril Adam Selim as ordering the attacks, Ismail said. Selim is a former rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) commander, who split earlier this year from the JEM leadership to form a splinter group.

There was no comment from Selim.

The other main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), denied its forces were involved and said civilians were attacking Arab militias who had stolen their cattle.

An expanded African Union force is monitoring a much-maligned April cease-fire between rebels and government forces.