More talks on Darfur peace
2005-04-04 12:52
Cairo - Sudan and four neighbouring nations will hold a summit here this month as Khartoum comes under increasing international pressure over the two-year Darfur conflict.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the leaders of Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, Libya and Chad will attend the April 20 summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sudan has angrily rejected several UN Security Council resolutions passed last week, including one that calls on Darfur war crimes suspects to be tried by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Aboul Gheit defended the Sudanese stance and said the leaders of the five nations will discuss the Darfur conflict, plus the implementation of peace accords signed in Sudan's 23-year southern civil war in January.
"The international community must be aware of the importance of not taking measures or decisions that might complicate the picture and lead to pressure on Sudanese society and provoke an unwanted international, regional, and Sudanese (outcome)," Aboul Gheit said Sunday.
On Sunday, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir led a Cabinet meeting that denounced the UN resolution regarding the ICC and appointed a committee to work out "how to deal with this situation".
Unbalanced
El-Bashir's government describes the UN resolution to send suspects to a foreign court as unbalanced because it does not apply to the United States, which opposes the ICC but abstained from the UN vote.
"The Darfur issue and the consecutive decisions that have been issued lately create a situation that might lead to complications," Aboul Gheit added.
The five nations meeting in Egypt later this month held earlier talks in Libya in October, during which they suggested they would oppose any UN or Western efforts to impose penalties on the Sudanese government for its alleged role in the Darfur conflict.
Sudan says it can bring to justice those responsible for Darfur rights abuses, but a UN panel that investigated the conflict found the government itself was implicated in mass killings and that 51 Sudanese - including high-ranking government officials - should stand trial in the ICC.
Aboul Gheit said the five nations also want southern peace accords signed in January by Sudanese officials and rebels to be implemented. Sudan's 23-year southern civil war left more than two million people dead, mainly through war-induced famine and disease.
"There is an Egyptian emphasis and demand to go ahead with Naivasha agreement," Aboul Gheit said in reference to the Kenyan town in which accords were signed by Sudan's warring sides ahead of the formal January 9 peace treaty signing.
The peace deal, which included agreements on power and wealth sharing between rebels and the government in the oil-rich south, raised hopes of a similar result in Darfur region.
- AP