The African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) on Thursday extended by three months the mandate of its protection force in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur amid escalating violence.
In a statement released in Addis Ababa, the PSC adopted the decision to renew the mandate of its African Union Mission in Sudan (Amis) until January 20, 2006.
The ”council reiterates its full support to Amis and the determination of the AU member states to continue to take all possible steps to ensure the success of the mission and the full implementation of its mandate”, it said.
The extension comes as the Sudan’s government and two Darfur rebel groups suspended their AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja for a month after making little progress in seeking a solution to the 30-month-old conflict.
AU mediators said that the talks — the sixth round in a year-old process — would be put on hold to allow the delegates to celebrate the end of Ramadan and allow the rebel Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) to resolve internal differences which have undermined the negotiations.
The parties will return on November 20 and formally resume talks the following day.
Mohammed Tugod, the head of the negotiating team from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), admitted that progress had been slow since the talks last restarted on September 15.
The PSC urged ”all the parties to demonstrate greater commitment and to extend the necessary cooperation to” African mediators in order ”to conclude the negotiations on power and wealth sharing and on security arrangements, by the end of this year”.
In addition, the council urged the SLA ”to work towards a resolution of their differences, in order to facilitate the early conclusion of the Abuja peace talks and contribute to the improvement of the security situation in Darfur”.
AU ceasefire monitors have complained that fighting has continued in Darfur and that attacks from both sides have caused civilian casualties. Five Nigerian peacekeepers were killed in an attack blamed on the military wing of the SLM.
Up to now, there are about 4 890 AU personnel in Darfur, but the council requested South Africa to deploy an additional 768 ”to complete the deployment plan as provided for in the concept of operations”.
Since fighting in Darfur began in February 2003, hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions been displaced from their homes. – Sapa-AFP