Kofi Annan appeals for end to fighting around Bahr el-Ghazal

A statement issued on Wednesday by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed concern over the renewed fighting between Sudanese government forces and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the Bahr el-Ghazal region. He appealed to all parties to desist immediately from fighting, to save the lives of innocent civilians and to restore the humanitarian ceasefire. The statement follows an announcement on Monday by the SPLA that it had captured the garrison town of Gogrial in Bahr el-Ghazal, where a ceasefire had been in force for several months. The SPLA blamed the breakdown of the ceasefire on government forces, which it said had attacked SPLA positions and civilian targets. But a press release issued by the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi on Thursday described the SPLA attack on Gogrial as “outrageous defiance of the international community” and a violation of a ceasefire that had held together with no major breach for about two years. It said the ceasefire was an essential precondition for the successful intervention by the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) to avert a looming disaster. The international community should be aware of the SPLA’s “daredevil attempt to risk the fragile humanitarian situation in Bahr el-Ghazal, where around 595,500 people are still in need of urgent assistance,” the statement said. Meanwhile, the US and Sudan agreed on Wednesday to postpone a UN Security Council vote on lifting sanctions against Sudan until mid-November, news agencies reported. The Associated Press (AP) quoted the Sudanese UN ambassador, Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, as saying that his country believed it very important to gain US support. “We would like to be flexible and give some time for the United States to come on board after clearing their concerns,” he said.