IGAD under fire over conflict escalation

Kenyan legislators and civil society groups have criticised the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for its "failure" to successfully broker Sudanese peace talks currently underway in Kenya.

Mwandawiro Mghanga, the coordinator of the Kenya-Sudan Friendship Society told IRIN on Thursday he doubted IGAD's ability to "bring peace" to Sudan if it was "unable to bring pressure to bear on the Khartoum government to halt the killing of civilians".

"The Kenyan government [which currently chairs IGAD] and IGAD, are both not serious," he said. "They should be able to tell the Sudanese government that bombing civilians in the south is unacceptable."

He added that it was "morally wrong" to talk peace "when a government is murdering its own people". "It has destroyed any level of trust that can be used as a basis of holding talks," he stated.

Analysts had hailed the talks, which began on 17 June, as a decisive opportunity for negotiators to push forward the peace process between the Muslim-dominated north of the country and the mostly-Christian south. Sticking points, such as self determination for the south and the separation of religion and state, have hitherto held up the process.

However on Thursday, the Kenyan media reported that Kenyan MPs had urged IGAD chairman, President Daniel arap Moi, to stop the ongoing Sudanese peace talks taking place in the eastern Kenyan town of Machakos "until the Khartoum government puts a stop to the fighting in the south".

"The Sudanese government is bombing innocent civilians in the southern area of the country. The victims of the bombs are children and women. We should stop the talks until Sudan commits itself fully," the 'Daily Nation' quoted MP Gitobu Imanyara as saying.

The MPs' comments follow recent reports of the government bombing of Kapoeta, a key garrison town in southern Sudan, in which seven people were reportedly killed.

The escalation of conflict in the south also has raised renewed fears over the humanitarian situation of up to 1.7 million people. The region most at risk is Western Upper Nile, where intense fighting since January has caused frequent and massive displacement of civilians, according to Andrew Nations, USAID's humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.

"The government’s denial of flight access to the UN’s Operation Lifeline Sudan (UN/OLS) for numerous areas in opposition-held southern Sudan is precipitating an alarming humanitarian situation about which the United States is deeply concerned," Nations said in a statement received by IRIN.

He said that despite numerous agreements by the Sudanese government to provide free and unimpeded access to war-affected populations, Khartoum had continued to severely restrict access to Western Upper Nile in recent months, where more than 300,000 people are estimated to be in need of immediate assistance.