Sudan agrees to stop military offensive in Darfur: AU

ABUJA, Dec 15 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has agreed to stop a military offensive in Darfur province in a move that could prompt the two main rebel groups to end their boycott of African Union-sponsored peace talks, the chief AU mediator said.

Chief mediator Sam Ibok told reporters the AU was taking steps to verify the information from Khartoum in order for talks to resume.

“The government of Sudan has given an undertaking that it has agreed to stop the current military attack (in Darfur) and we have indicated to them that we shall try to verify that information so that we can resume the talks in the full session,” Ibok said.

“If we verify the information and we find out that it is accurate, then it should pave the way for full discussion on the political issue,” he said following a meeting with Khartoum’s official delegation to the talks.

Sudan government spokesman Ibrahim Mohammed said: “In the meeting, we assured them that we contacted Khartoum, we do agree to stop the military action (which) means going back to former position, that is withdrawing the troops.”

At the same time, the rebels should stop their attacks “because our duty and responsibility as a government is to defend all our people,” he added.

AU officials and mediators, including from the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League, met later Wednesday to discuss ways of moving the peace process forwards after Khartoum’s pledge, AU spokesman Assane Ba said.

The Sudanese government and the two main rebel groups — the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) — were not participating in the mediators’ meeting, Ba said.

Ahmed Tugod, spokesman for the JEM, said earlier: “We are ready to continue with these talks if the Sudan government withdraws the troops immediately from where they are now to their original position.”

Both rebel groups on Monday walked out of the latest bid here to resolve the Darfur conflict, accusing Khartoum of repeated ceasefire violations.

The AU Ceasefire Commission on Monday accused all sides in the conflict of constant truce violations.

Since the rebels’ walkout, the AU mediators have been holding separate meetings with both sides in an attempt to convince the rebels to return to the negotiating table.

On Thursday, a joint committee meeting involving all the stakeholders in the Darfur crisis, including officials of the AU Ceasefire Commission, will further discuss kick-starting the talks, Ba said.

Commission chairman General Festus Okonkwo is expected to brief the meeting Thursday on ceasefire compliance or violations in Darfur and the general security situation in the troubled region, delegates said.

Talks between Sudan’s government and another rebel group from the strife-wracked western Darfur region are working on a draft ceasefire agreement, an official from Chad, which is mediating the talks, told AFP.

The official said the draft accord, providing for a cessation of hostilities and the free movement of aid workers in zones controlled by the National Movement for Reconstruction and Development (NMRD), could be signed at a meeting on Thursday.

Chad has agreed to mediate the talks, which began Tuesday, between Khartoum’s delegates and the NMRD, an offshoot of the JEM that hasn’t been welcomed into the Abuja talks.

The AU-brokered talks in Abuja are aimed at bringing to an end the conflict that has raged in Darfur since February 2003, when rebels drawn from the mainly black African population of the region rose up against Khartoum, accusing the Arab government of marginalising their region.

At least 70,000 people have been killed and, according to UN figures released Wednesday, some 1.65 million people have now been displaced in the nearly two-year-old conflict in Sudan’s western region.

Despite persistent fighting however, relief agencies have managed to reach nearly 80 percent of those affected, a UN spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the German army expects to begin airlifting AU ceasefire observers into the Darfur region on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Between 60 and 70 German soldiers are expected to take part in the operation.