Darfur 'ripe for resolution'

2006-04-19 08:51

New York - The festering conflict in Sudan's Darfur region is "ripe for resolution" as Khartoum shows flexibility on key issues, says the African Union's chief mediator.

Briefing the United Nations security council on the AU-brokered peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania said: "The conflict in Darfur, which has witnessed so much suffering and bloodshed, seems at last to be ripe for resolution."

He told the 15-member body that Khartoum was showing some flexibility on the key issues of power and wealth sharing as well as security arrangements.

'Differences can be narrowed'

Noting that the Darfur insurgents needed "to move in the same direction", Salim, who was mediating the Abuja talks, added: "We are hopeful that the differences can be narrowed."

A key factor was the presence in Abuja of Sudanese vice-president Ali Osman Taha at the head of a high-powered delegation as well as of all the Darfur rebel leaders.

He said: "For the first time there are intensive bilateral and direct discussions between the parties, as well as meetings facilitated by the AU mediation."

According to diplomats, the talks, now in their seventh round, had so far made little progress, but both the UN and the AU were putting pressure on the parties to strike a deal and conclude the talks by the end of this month.

UN to send troops to Darfur

Meanwhile, Salim pleaded with council members to ensure that once a comprehensive ceasefire accord was signed, they would extend "maximum support to the cash-strapped AU peacekeeping force in Darfur (AMIS) to enable it to cope with additional responsibilities".

He said: "There is no point in calling for the speedy conclusion of an agreement, if nothing will be done to appropriately prepare AMIS for its expanded mandate."

UN officials were preparing to send peacekeepers to Darfur by the end of the year or at the beginning of 2007 to take over from the AMIS force, which had failed to restore peace in the vast western Sudanese region.

But, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir was strongly opposed to the UN mission.

Three years of fighting between rebels and Khartoum-backed militias in Sudan had left up to 300 000 people dead and two million displaced.

- AFP