African leaders call for plan to separate combatants in Darfur

By ABAKAR SALEH, Associated Press Writer

N’DJAMENA, Chad, Feb 16, 2005 (AP) — African leaders called Wednesday for a commission monitoring a largely ignored cease-fire in Sudan’s western Darfur region to draw up plans for separating government and rebel forces, and urged the African Union to send in peacekeepers.

Sudanese army soldiers patrol on camels outside the Mornay camp in western Darfur, Sudan.(AFP).

The African leaders and officials were meeting in Chad to consider ways of strengthening the cease fire in Darfur as they seek to launch a fourth round of peace talks for the troubled region.

African leaders “expressed concern about the continued suffering of civilians in Darfur who are victims of … violence that forced them to flee their homes and seek refuge in camps, neighboring villages and countries,” said a statement released after the meeting. The leaders called for “a total and final cease-fire.”

In the statement, the leaders and officials from a handful of African countries, including Nigeria, Chad, Egypt and Sudan, said the monitoring commission should map out government and rebel positions and come up with a plan for separating the forces.

A small AU mission in Darfur to monitor the cease fire could then be expanded and given a broader peacekeeping mandate, the statement said.

But the leaders and officials cautioned the international community against imposing sanctions on Sudan or sending non-African peacekeepers, a move they said may undermine AU efforts to end the conflict.

They were referring to informal discussions among members of the U.N. Security Council on a new Sudan resolution expected to include a request for peacekeepers. The Council is divided on how to punish those responsible for crimes in Darfur and on possible sanctions, including an arms or oil embargo, an asset freeze and travel ban.

Wednesday’s statement was issued shortly before members of the cease-fire monitoring commission met to review violations of the deal. Officials from the African Union, European Union, United States and United Nations — all members of the commission — are trying to avoid a repeat of the last round of peace talks that was derailed by violations of the truce.

The Darfur cease-fire continues to be violated regularly, and there were “sustained and heavy military operations in north and south Darfur” in December and clashes as recently as last week, according to a statement Wednesday from the office of U.N. envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, who was at the Chad meeting.

There are 1,400 military observers and troops from African nations to monitor the cease-fire in the region the size of France. Unknown assailants shooting at the observers’ helicopters and vehicles in the last few months have prevented them from investigating reports of cease-fire violations.

Three previous rounds of talks and the cease-fire agreement, signed in April, have failed to calm Darfur, which plunged into violent conflict in February 2003.

The most recent round of Darfur peace talks began Dec. 11, but rebels boycotted meetings with government delegates two days later, alleging a new government offensive. The talks broke down within weeks.

The leaders of Libya, Egypt, Gabon, Chad, Nigeria and Sudan were planning a possible meeting later this month in Egypt to discuss peace efforts in Darfur, African Union spokesman Assane Ba said, without giving details.

“They will discuss ways of making the peace process go forward … finding solutions to this conflict,” Ba said.

Darfur has been torn by conflict since early 2003, when rebels of ethnic African tribes took up arms, complaining of discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. A pro-government Arab militia launched a counterinsurgency in which thousands were killed. An estimated 2 million people have been displaced.