Though the parties to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan - which has already cost
nearly 200,000 lives, mainly civilians - have not yet compromised on key issues,
a peace agreement is within reach by the 30 April deadline set by the African
Union (AU), the chief mediator from that organization told the United Nations
Security Council today, urging support for the AU mission in the country.
“We are working full steam to meet this deadline,” Salim Ahmed Salim(photo) the AU
special envoy and chief mediator for the inter-Sudanese talks in Abuja, Nigeria,
said in his first Council briefing
since January, when he said talks between the Government and rebel movements
were proceeding at an “agonizing slow pace.”
“As we enter the home stretch of this marathon negotiating session,” he
cautioned, however, “the anxieties of the Parties are understandably
intensifying.” Concessions still need to be made on the sharing of wealth and
power, security arrangements and other issues, he said.
The security arrangements will make or break the negotiations, he said,
underscoring the complexity of both an immediate ceasefire and long-term final
status arrangements. “Darfur is home to a myriad of armed and dangerous militia,
included the Janjaweed, the armed movements that are fragmenting, bandits of
sorts, foreign combatants and tribal forces,” he observed.
The mediation team, he said, had made proposals on the disengagement of forces,
disarmament of the Janjaweed, the control and neutralization of militias,
protection of displaced persons, security of nomadic migration corridors and the
demilitarization of humanitarian supply routes.
The proposed “Enhanced Ceasefire Agreement” stipulates that the neutralization
of the Janjaweed and “undisciplined militia” is a prerequisite for any peace
agreement, he said.
As this, and all such steps, will have to be monitored by the AU Mission in
Sudan (AMIS), he stressed that it was crucial to follow up any peace agreement,
once signed, with maximum support to those forces, which are not even adequate
to fulfil their current mandate.
“My plea to you in this esteemed Council, is that you do not wait for the
transition to take place from AMIS to a UN Force before strengthening the
implementation mechanism of any agreement to be reached in Abuja,” he said.
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
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