Sudan won help from Arab countries on Sunday in its attempt to head off sanctions the United Nations has threatened to impose if it fails to rein in militias accused of atrocities in the Darfur region.
In a statement released after an emergency meeting in Cairo, the Arab League said on Sunday night that Sudan needed more time to end the crisis and that sanctions would ”only result in negative effects for the whole Sudanese people and complicate the crisis in Darfur”.
The UN security council has set a deadline of August 29 for Sudan to show it is serious about disarming nomadic Arab militias engaged in a 15-month conflict with black African farmers that has killed at least 50 000 people and displaced more than a million, according to UN estimates.
Khartoum has portrayed sanctions as Western meddling — an argument that resonates with Arab public opinion.
Ahead of Sunday’s meeting, the Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa, told reporters the league would produce a ”clear Arab stand on how to deal with the Darfur crisis, on the Arab countries’ support of Sudan and avoiding possible international sanctions”. But New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the league to put pressure on Sudan, not protect it.
”Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult,” a spokesperson said.
Sudan’s cabinet endorsed an agreement requiring Khartoum to create safe areas in Darfur within 30 days so civilians could search for food and water and work their land without fear of attack.
The plan would halt all military operations by government forces, militias, and rebel groups in these safe areas. Under the agreement, the government will approach ”militias over whom it has influence and instruct them to cease their activities forthwith and lay down their weapons”.
The African Union, which is sending ceasefire monitors to Darfur, said on Sunday Sudan and two rebel groups had agreed to peace talks on August 23 — though the rebels told Reuters they had been given no date.
The proposed talks are described as the continuation of a political dialogue started in Addis Ababa on July 15 under the auspices of the AU. Those talks failed when the rebels set six conditions for negotiations that were rejected by Khartoum.
On Sunday night the main rebel group in southern Sudan, which is locked in a separate conflict with the government, offered to provide 10 000 troops as peacekeepers in the Darfur. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army proposed a 30 000-strong peacekeeping force to ”prevent genocide” in Darfur. Its leader, John Garang, said a third of the force could consist of Sudanese troops, while his group and international forces would provide a third each. – Guardian Unlimited Â