African Union records 46 ceasefire violations in Darfur

ABUJA, Dec 17, 2004 (Xinhua) — The African Union has reported 46 cases of ceasefire violations in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan since the last peace talks ended in Abuja, Nov. 24, 2004.

African Union cease-fire monitor Colonel Georges Niouky of Senegal leaves a meeting with Sudan Liberation Army rebels at the village of Gellab, west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, November 8, 2004. (Reuters).

Chairman of the AU Ceasefire Commission Festus Okonkwo disclosed this here on Friday in a report to a meeting of the AU joint commission on the Darfur crisis, blaming both the rebels and the Sudanese government for the violations.

The report showed that 28 violations were by the rebels, eight by the government troops while ten were unidentified.

The report, which painted a bad humanitarian picture of the situation in Darfur, urged both the rebels — the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army — and the Sudanese government to stop the violations as they were impeding the peace process.

Okonwko said that most violations took place on the road, the banks and the camps.

Most UN agencies have since ordered their workers out of troubled Darfur as the violators had killed many workers and injured thousands.

The AU-sponsored peace talks in Abuja are currently on halt as the rebels who walked out on Tuesday had vowed never to resume the negotiation process unless the government ends its attacks and withdraws its troops from the troubled area.

The joint commission is between the AU and other partners like the European Union, the United Nations and other interest groups.

At least thousands of people have been killed and one million others displaced since the Darfur crisis started two years ago.