Time running out for Sudan’s Darfur peace talks- Chad President
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
N’DJAMENA, Chad, Feb 17, 2005 (AP) — Chad President Idriss Deby pressed Sudan’s government and rebels in the western Darfur region to end a two-year civil war, saying the time for endless peace talks was running out.
Deby, whose country mediates the peace talks along with the African Union, was addressing an international commission monitoring a largely ignored cease-fire in Darfur. The group, meeting for a second day Thursday, was expected to announce a date for the next round of peace talks.
“There is no more time for useless and eternal discussions,” Deby said. “We need to act fast and in good faith with those who want peace. We do not need to remain in a prolonged dialogue that characterizes the current peace talks.”
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.
Officials from the African Union, European Union, U.S. and U.N. – all members of the commission – are trying to avoid a repeat of the last round of talks derailed by violations of the truce.
“There are continuous violations by all the parties,” AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said of the cease-fire deal. “We will not accept the current drift.”
African leaders called late Wednesday for the commission to map out government and rebel positions in Darfur and draw up plans for separating them.
The 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,” according to a statement from leaders and officials of African countries including Nigeria, Chad, Egypt and Sudan .
They urged the African Union to send more peacekeepers, and cautioned the international community against imposing sanctions or sending non-African peacekeepers, a move they said could undermine AU efforts to end the conflict.
Members of the U.N. Security Council have informally been discussing a new Sudan resolution, possibly including a request for peacekeepers. The Security 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 or a travel ban.
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.
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 efforts to advance the Darfur peace process, African Union spokesman Assane Ba said, without giving details.
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.