The African Union on Monday gave two hold-out Darfur rebel groups a 24-hour deadline to sign a peace deal with Khartoum or face United Nations sanctions, and urged Sudan to accept a UN force in the troubled western region.
AU commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare said the pan-African body would ask the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) unless they signed the deal by Tuesday, when it is set to be implemented.
“I call on them to hasten to append their signatures, without any conditions, to the document before its implementation on May 16 2006,” he told a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
In addition, he said that even if the two groups did not sign on to the deal, they would be held accountable for any violations under penalty of sanctions.
“Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the [agreement], especially ceasefire provisions, the Peace and Security Council should take appropriate measures against them, including by requesting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against them,” Konare said.
The two groups have thus far refused entreaties to sign the agreement that was sealed on May 5 in the Nigerian capital of Abuja between Khartoum and the main faction of the SLM.
The Abuja accord provides for a more equitable distribution of power and wealth, the disarming of the pro-government Janjaweed militias and a referendum on the future of Darfur, but the hold-outs say it does not go far enough.
There was no immediate reaction from the two groups.
In his report to the Peace and Security Council, Konare also called on the Sudanese government to drop its objections to allowing UN peacekeepers to replace the current African Union mission in Sudan, known as Amis.
“This is particularly pertinent given that the current mandate of Amis will expire four-and-a-half months from now and the minimum lead-time the UN requires for an effective transition is six months,” he said.
In response, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Khartoum was willing to discuss the matter with the UN but reiterated his government’s view that UN forces were unnecessary and not envisaged by the peace deal.
“The signing of the peace agreement in Darfur has undoubtedly created a new reality on the ground that rendered the issue of the transfer of the AU mission to the UN no longer relevant,” he said.
“A study of the [agreement] reveals that the AU is the only foreign party given the task to monitor and oversee the implementation of the security arrangements in Darfur,” Akol said. “The agreement does not at all mention any role for the UN.”
While awaiting a possible shift from Khartoum, Konare called on the AU to boost the mandate and manpower of Amis, which currently numbers some 7 000, in order to monitor the implementation of the Abuja peace deal.
“I strongly recommend an increase in the strength of Amis in line with the need for a robust enhancement in terms of additional troops, logistics and overall capacity,” he said. “The tasks ahead are indeed daunting.”
Three years of war in the province between rebels and Khartoum backed by their proxy militias have claimed an estimated 300 000 lives and displaced around 2,4-million people. — AFP