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Canada urges peace for Sudan
25/03/2008 21:09 - (SA)
Khartoum - Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier paid his first official visit to Khartoum and urged the Sudanese government on Tuesday to stop attacks in the war-torn region of Darfur.
Bernier, who spoke after talks with Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor, was scheduled to visit northern Darfur on Wednesday to meet the local governor and international peacekeepers in the state capital Al-Fasher.
"I urged the government to stop the military action in Darfur and stop attacks over civilians and work with the international community to be sure that the humanitarian people would be able to have access to Darfur," he said.
Canada asked to help
The Sudanese foreign minister denied that civilians were ever targeted and called on Canada to mediate with the rebels, which have multiplied and fractured into numerous groups complicating efforts to mediate a peace deal.
"The government declared a unilateral ceasefire a long time ago. It was not responded to...
"We asked the Canadians to help in talks with the leaders of the movements in Darfur," Alor told AFP.
Civilians caught in the middle
"They (civilians) are caught in the middle. Sometimes it is inevitable for some of them to fall victims but... nobody targets civilians," he added.
A UN report last week accused Sudanese soldiers of rape and extensive looting during offensives in Darfur, carried out with state-backed militias.
The conflict, which the United Nations said has claimed the lives of about 200 000 people and displaced 2.2 million, pitted ethnic minority rebels who wanted a greater share of national resources against the Sudanese government.
Bernier also called on the government fully to implement a fragile peace agreement that had ended two decades of a civil war between north and south in 2005.
On Thursday, he would travel to the southern capital Juba, where he was set to meet First Vice President and leader of south Sudan, Salva Kiir.
- AFP
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