Darfur talks deadlocked over no-fly zone

Peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, between the Sudanese government and rebels from the western region of Darfur were deadlocked over a proposal to create a no-fly zone in the troubled area, delegates and mediators said. A draft security protocol prepared by African Union (AU) mediators provides for “an effective ceasefire on land and air”, requiring the Sudan government to end all military flights in Darfur. The two rebel movements fighting the government for the past 20 months in Darfur - the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equity Movement (JEM) – have agreed to sign the document. Khartoum has not. Majzoub Khalifa, head of the Sudanese government delegation, told reporters in Abuja on Saturday that the no-fly provision was not acceptable to Khartoum. He demanded a return to the previous draft, which did not include ending military flights in Darfur. Both the SLA and the JEM have said they are ready to sign the draft agreement. JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussain Adam accused the government of “wasting our time”. The AU’s chief mediator, Allam-Mi Ahmad, acknowledged on Saturday that the talks were on the brink of failure. “We have done everything possible trying to reconcile the different positions,'' Ahmad said. Mediators will persist for another week at the most, he said, and then suspend the talks if there is no breakthrough. Two previous rounds of talks between the belligerents failed to yield an agreement. The rebels have often claimed that government forces continue to carry out air attacks on their positions in breach of an existing ceasefire. The government has denied the claims and accused the rebels of attacking government positions. Indigenous communities in Darfur took up arms in February 2003, accusing Khartoum of decades of neglect and oppression. In its efforts to pacify the region, President Omar El Beshir’s government is widely believed to have backed the Janjawid, an Arab militia accused of committing atrocities against unarmed civilians. The conflict has displaced more than 1.5 million people, while more than 70,000 have died from the sickness and malnutrition it has caused. An unknown number have died as a direct result of the fighting itself. Disagreement over the security agreement has blocked the signing of a humanitarian protocol agreed at earlier talks in Abuja. The protocol aims to open up Darfur for a massive international relief intervention to save the many lives at risk there.