Compromises needed for Darfur
2007-09-26 19:40
Khartoum - Darfur's peace talks will be a "tremendous challenge" requiring all sides to make compromises
to settle the conflict in Sudan's remote west, the top US
diplomat in Sudan said on Wednesday.
Charge D'affaires Alberto Fernandez said US envoy Andrew
Natsios would begin his longest visit to Sudan this week with a
trip to Darfur and also to push a separate north-south peace
process where rising tensions are worrying Washington.
Talks are due to start in Libya on October 27 to end the
violence Washington calls genocide. International experts
estimate 200 000 people have died and 2.5m have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arabs took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect.
Khartoum has rejected the allegation and said the West was exaggerating the fighting: it puts the death toll at 9 000.
Since a May 2006 peace deal, signed by only one of three
negotiating insurgent movements, the rebels have split into more than a dozen factions.
Fernandez said the UN and African Union mediators needed
to go into the talks with "eyes wide open" and be aware of the
shortcomings of last year's deal.
"To have an agreement that is not inclusive risks a flawed and failed agreement," he said.
Return to war possible
He said the United States was concerned by the slow progress
in getting a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force on the ground,
despite Khartoum's agreement to the 26 000-strong mission.
A military standoff in South Kordofan and raids by northern
police on their southern junior coalition partners' offices in Khartoum prompted South Sudan President Salva Kiir to say a return to war was possible.
Fernandez said an agreement on demarcating the borders of
Abyei, a central, disputed oil-rich region, would build
confidence between the two sides.
"A solution to Abyei, a compromise, would go a very long way in solving a lot of the problems," he added.
The north-south civil war, Africa's longest, claimed 2m lives and drove at least 4m from their homes.