Arab League, UN affirm need to halt violence in Sudan?’s Darfur
CAIRO, Nov 26, 2004 (KUNA) — Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa expressed optimism on Friday at the prospect of working out a lasting and credible agreement between the Sudanese Government and the Popular Movement of South Sudan over the disputed region of Darfur.
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Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels walk through an unidentified village in the desert west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, November 8, 2004. (Reuters). |
Moussa’s spokesman Husam Zaki Mustafa, speaking to journalists after the
league chief held talks with the special UN envoy on Sudan, Jan Pronk, said
the delegate affirmed the necessity of exerting pressure on the khartoum
government and the rebels to avert possible deterioration of the security
conditions.
The league secretary general expressed identical views on the conflict in
Darfur and called for international role to avert possible reccurrence of
wide-scale bloody fighting.
Pronk briefed Moussa about his assessment of the latest developments in
Darfur and Moussa assured him that the Arab organization was exerting
substantial diplomatic efforts to maintain normalcy in the disputed regions of
the Sudan.
Addressing a news conference, held later today at the UN main office in
Cairo, Pronk underscored the necessity that all factions in Sudan, namely in
the Darfur region, abide by previously-signed agreements including the
cease-fire accord to ensure continuous inflow of humanitarian and relief
supplies to the stricken region.
The fighting in Darfur has resulted in relocating nearly 1.6 million
people, Pronk confirmed. He also affirmed that Egypt could play a crucial role
in settling the Sudanese crisis.
Two main armed opposition groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), started the fight against the Khartoum
forces in early 2003.
The United Nations has warned that it will impose curbs on Khartoum if it
fails to halt violence in Darfur, where some 70,000 people have been lost
their lives, since March, as a result of hunger and diseases.