US says deal emerging on attacks on civilians

The United States government has said it is moving closer to an agreement with Sudan to end the targeting of civilians in the country's 19-year civil war.

"The Sudanese government has indicated that it will agree to a verification mechanism that will monitor and prevent attacks against civilians. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army [SPLM/A] has not yet agreed to this point," Richard Boucher, US State Department spokesman, said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

SPLM/A representatives were unavailable for comment on the announcement.

A statement by Sudanese presidential peace adviser, Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani, released on Monday, said the Khartoum administration had accepted an amended US proposal on attacks on civilians, saying it was "more balanced and inclusive" than the initial proposal made by the US peace envoy, John Danforth.

The scope of the US proposal had been widened beyond the issue of bombing attacks on civilians to include shelling, the taking of civilians as human shields, and the use of civilian installations for military purposes, according to Atabani's statement.

Although the original US proposal on ending attacks on civilians (one of four confidence-building measures suggested by Danforth in November) highlighted the problem of bombing attacks on civilian targets, the envoy himself has said that the proposed verification mechanisms would not be limited to bombing.

The US had previously suspended peace discussions with Khartoum following a Sudanese government helicopter gunship attack on a relief centre in the village of Bieh, western Upper Nile, on 20 February, in which 24 people were killed.

According to Boucher, an explanation and an apology for the attack had been offered by Khartoum, and efforts were now being made to prevent similar incidents.

Boucher said the US had received a letter from Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il in which he acknowledged the tragedy at Bieh, and indicated concrete steps the government intended to take to ensure there was no repeat of such attacks, "including moving the approval process for all military flights to the Khartoum military command".

The agreement, if signed, would include "an international verification mechanism to deal with reports of attacks on civilians in contravention of the Geneva Convention", United Press International (UPI) quoted Robert Oakley, a former US ambassador and adviser to Danforth, as saying on Monday

Meanwhile, a team of three international military experts arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday to oversee a locally agreed cease-fire in the Nuba Mountains region of Southern Kordofan, south-central Sudan, news agencies reported.

Muhammad Ahmad Dirdiery, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN on Thursday that the three observers, who comprised an American and two Europeans, were the vanguard of an International Monitoring Unit (IMU), which would eventually number up to 15 military and civilian personnel.

Under the Nuba agreement, signed between representatives of the Sudanese government and SPLM/A-Nuba in Switzerland in January, a Joint Military Commission (JMC) and an IMU are due to be established to oversee compliance with the terms of the agreement.

According to the text of the agreement, the IMU would report to the JMC regarding "verification, control and monitoring of the cessation of hostilities and subsequent disengagement".

A cease-fire in the Nuba Mountains was another of the four US confidence-building proposals made by Danforth in November. The remaining two proposals concerned: the creation of zones and times of tranquillity (throughout Sudan) in which humanitarian assistance could be offered to vulnerable populations; and an end to the taking of slaves.

In his briefing on Tuesday, Boucher emphasised the importance of international monitors in efforts to protect civilians from military attack.

"Sadly, the history of Sudan is strewn with agreements and commitments that have never been implemented," he said. "The only way to break this vicious cycle is for the parties to the conflict to live up to their word and for international monitors to conform compliance on the ground."