Progress in Darfur 'credible'
2007-07-02 18:15
Geneva - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday there had been "slow but credible" progress towards peace in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur in the past six months.
"During the last six months we have made slow but credible and considerable progress in helping resolve this Darfur situation," he said.
Sudan has agreed in principle to a hybrid force of about 20 000 UN and African Union peacekeepers, to replace a poorly equipped and under-funded force of about 7 000 AU troops.
Ban said that Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir "has recently shown some signs of flexibility" on the issue, having previously resisted outside intervention.
Still, the international community has so far failed to show sufficient resolve during four years of fighting in which the UN estimates nearly 200 000 people have been killed, and a further two million forced to flee their homes, he added.
"The people in Darfur have suffered too much and the international community has waited too long. It is now high time for us to take necessary action and I hope the Sudanese government will implement faithfully the commitment they have made," the UN chief said.
Ban said there were four main tracks that all players should follow to bring peace to Darfur, namely humanitarian assistance; the hybrid peacekeeping force, the political process with Khartoum; and the prospect of reconstruction and development assistance in the post-conflict era.
These four aspects were reconfirmed by China, France, the United States and some 15 other nations at a meeting in Paris last week, and will be reasserted at a further meeting chaired jointly by the United Nations and African Union in New York in September, Ban said.