Sudan unhappy at some Darfur rebel demands
Source: Reuters
By Opheera McDoom KHARTOUM, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Sudan's government is not enthusiastic about some elements of a joint Darfur rebel platform agreed during U.N. and African Union mediated talks in Tanzania, U.N. Darfur envoy Jan Eliasson said on Tuesday. Eliasson and his AU counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim, in an effort to reignite peace efforts, brought many Darfur commanders and groups together for unity talks in Arusha early this week. They emerged from the meeting with a common platform, including agreement on land issues, power and wealth-sharing, ahead of proposed peace talks with the government. But Eliasson told reporters after meeting Foreign Ministry officials in Khartoum: "Not all of the points of course are met with great enthusiasm, but it is a basis." Khartoum says a Darfur peace deal it signed with one of three rebel negotiating factions in May 2006 should not be reopened to address the concerns of rebels, who have since split into more than a dozen factions. "The government does not want to have a renegotiation of the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement) so this is a matter we will discuss both with the government and with the non-signatories -- how will we finalise the final agenda," Eliasson added. He said the joint U.N.-AU team would use shuttle diplomacy over the coming weeks to try to bring the government and rebel positions together and reach a final agenda for talks, due to begin in about two months. Senior Foreign Ministry official Mutrif Siddig said the government welcomed the Arusha talks, but was disappointed not all the factions were present and that the original timeline, which had envisaged peace talks beginning by August, was lost. "(But) in the end what will be agreed will add to the Darfur peace agreement which will help the command and the work of the hybrid operation," Siddig added, in reference to a joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping force due to deploy to Darfur by year's end. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ali al-Sadig said: "Sudan is ready to work on some of the parts of the statement including the ceasefire declaration." International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes during more than four years of rape, murder, disease and looting in Darfur, violence Washington calls genocide. European governments are reluctant to use the term, which Khartoum rejects. Sudan puts the death toll at 9,000. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants on war crimes charges against a government minister and a militia leader. On Tuesday ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Khartoum must hand over the suspects. "Sudan cannot be a pariah country. They know it is important. The government needs legitimacy, so they will respect the law," Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in Australia. The government of Sudan says the ICC has no authority in Darfur. After months of talks, threats and negotiations, the government finally agreed to a joint U.N.-AU 26,000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur, but said most of the troops should come from Africa. But Zambia on Tuesday said the continent could not muster enough troops to complete the mission and international troops had to be found from other areas. "We don't have the means," Foreign Minister Mundia Sikatana told Reuters during a meeting in Malaysia. "Immediately Africa has no capacity to deal with the situation in Darfur. Who are we to stop the whole world contributing?" The United Nations says the joint force must deploy alongside a renewed political process, as they must have a peace to keep. Analysts said the Arusha meeting's chance of success were hampered by the absence of some important rebel figures, but nonetheless succeeded in boosting unity which has been a major hindrance to talks with the government. Eliasson said a seat was available for Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) leader and founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, who refuses any talks until an oil-for-food programme and no-fly zone is in place in Sudan's remote west. Khartoum at the weekend expressed its anger at France, hosting Nur, for not pressuring him to attend the Arusha talks. "I hope that he will positively consider the role that he can play in these talks," said Eliasson. Nur has few troops on the ground but commands huge popular support among Darfur's largest tribe, the Fur. (Additional reporting by Clarence Fernandez in Malaysia and Rob Taylor in Australia)
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