Members of Sudan’s government and the two rebel movements fighting in the war-torn Darfur region began substantive peace talks on Monday as the African Union called for an end to a recent upsurge in violence.
”We cannot understand the repeated acts of banditry in Darfur,” AU conference chairperson Salim Ahmed Salim admonished government and rebel delegates, as he declared open the plenary stage of the dialogue in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
”We cannot understand the killing of innocent civilians — even in internally displaced persons’ camps — and the destruction of the homes and the social fabric of Darfur when the major participants are all here in Abuja,” he complained.
The latest round of the year-old conference, aimed at bringing to an end a 30-month-old civil war that has left 300 000 dead, began on September 15, but delegates have so far been divided into groups discussing side issues and setting the conference agenda.
Last week, the head of the AU’s ceasefire monitoring team in Darfur accused the government of supporting an attack by an armed militia on villages and displaced persons’ camps in north Darfur that left about 44 people dead.
The government has firmly denied involvement in the attack, and said on Monday that it remains committed to the dialogue in Abuja.
”This peace process has been launched and it will never stop. We are not satisfied with the delay so far because our people are suffering,” said Khartoum’s chief negotiator, Majzoub al-Khalifa.
”We wish these delegations to be very sincere … We want a clear determination to make the present round a decisive round; beginning today, we must have a new turning point,” he added.
Salim told delegates that talks on power-sharing would begin on Monday and continue until about October 10. Talks on security arrangements are scheduled to begin on October 15 and this round of negotiations is expected to end about October 20, he said.
Although much of this period will take place during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of prayer and fasting, the sessions will be arranged in order to inconvenience the entirely Muslim delegations as little as possible, he said.
”We believe and expect that the Abuja talks and the holy month of Ramadan will be used for confidence and trust-building, to begin an era of peace in Darfur,” Salim said.
”It’s time for those of you who have opted for a negotiated political solution to the conflict to get together to isolate those who made it a point to kill, burn, steal and rape in Darfur.” — Sapa-AFP