Efforts to end the four-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region by paving the way for new talks between Khartoum and fragmented rebel groups took a step forward at a meeting in Libya on Monday.
International envoys and rebel groups, which failed to sign up to a May 2006 peace deal, will meet next month to fix a date and venue for the start of negotiations between the warring sides, according to a final statement from the two-day conference organised by the United Nations and the African Union.
The new meeting will take place in Arusha, Tanzania, between August 3 and 5, according to the statement from the Tripoli conference, the latest bid to find ways to end a civil war that has killed an estimated 200 000 people since 2003.
”I think that the month of September will be crucial for Darfur,” Said Djinnit, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said.
He said the Tripoli conference had highlighted the need to move rapidly towards negotiations between the Sudanese government and rebel movements that did not sign the Abuja peace agreement in 2006.
”We have been in the constructive phase for some weeks. We are making progress on the peace process and rebel movements are increasingly showing their willingness to resume dialogue,” Djinnit said.
The meeting was held as the UN examines a revised Security Council draft resolution authorising a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur for an initial 12 months to replace the embattled AU force.
Khartoum has been accused of sponsoring a genocidal crackdown in Darfur through its Janajaweed militia since rebels took up arms in 2003 complaining of marginalisation by the Islamist government.
The UN estimates about 200 000 people have been killed and two million displaced. — AFP
