UN Secretary-General urges quick end to peace talks

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called for a quick signing of a comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), saying such a deal would catalyse efforts to resolve the conflict in the western region of Darfur. "The effects of the delay [in signing a peace pact between Khartoum and the SPLM/A] are felt not only in the south, but elsewhere too, as conflict spreads to more parts of the country," Annan told members of the UN Security Council at a meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "The devastating conflict in Darfur is glaring evidence of this." "There is no time to waste," Annan added. "The speedy conclusion of the North-South talks would not only curb the further spread of conflict to other parts of the country, it would also serve as the basis and catalyst for the resolution of existing conflicts." The SPLM/A leader John Garang said the convening in Nairobi of the Council, dedicated to addressing the problems of civil strife in Sudan, was a "positive gesture, which we most appreciate and welcome". The SPLM/A, he added, was committed to signing a comprehensive peace agreement "within the shortest time possible" and hinted that might be achieved before Christmas. The US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, and the Council's president for the month of November, told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting that Khartoum and the SPLM/A would sign a "memorandum of understanding" on Friday, committing themselves to signing the final settlement before the end of the year. Sudan's Vice-President Ali Uthman Taha, who has been leading the government's delegation to peace talks in Kenya between Khartoum and the SPLM/A, also expressed the government's commitment to reaching a final peace pact. "I wish to reiterate today the government is committed to reaching peace in the Sudan," Taha told the Council. Annan deplored what he said was the worsening security situation in Darfur. "I regret to report that the security situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate, despite the ceasefire agreements signed earlier in N'Djamena [Chad] and now reinforced in Abuja," he told the Council. "Both the government and its militias, as well as the rebel groups, have breached agreements," he added. "This has made humanitarian work by the UN and our partners precarious and difficult, if not impossible." "Many innocent civilians continue to suffer as a result. This cannot be allowed to continue. The strongest warning to all the parties that are causing this suffering is essential. We cannot allow impunity," said Annan. "When - a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this Council." The Council is expected to adopt a new resolution on Sudan on Friday, according to Danforth, who said this would essentially be "a moving forward resolution", coming in the wake of previous resolutions on the conflict in Darfur. Annan said that the "terrible situation in Darfur has been brought about mainly by deliberate acts of violence against civilians, including widespread killing and rape. Because of the magnitude and intensity of the human suffering in that region [Darfur], the conflict remains a burning issue. Your draft resolution rightly reflects that concern." NGOs urge Council to act firmly International non-governmental and human rights organisations had urged the Council to use the meeting to ensure lasting peace in Sudan. "The primary objective of the Council at its Nairobi meeting should be to ensure that the government of Sudan and SPLM/A do not return to war," Refugees International (RI) said in a statement. "To that end, the successful conclusion of a peace agreement should be encouraged with all the vigor the Council can muster. Don’t let peace slip away in southern Sudan. "The Council meeting in Nairobi may be the last chance to rescue a peace process that has begun to bog down," RI official, Larry Thompson, said. "It would be a human tragedy of major proportions if the ploughshares of peace were turned back into the weapons of war in southern Sudan. Peace in the largest country in Africa is worthy of the Council’s highest priority." The New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) welcomed the meeting and urged the Council to use its influence to enable a comprehensive peace. "We re-affirm the principles which must underlie a just and enduring peace: unity in diversity, general reconciliation and forgiveness, human rights, justice, the right of self-determination, fundamental freedoms, pluralism, transparency, and addressing the root causes of the different conflicts in Sudan," the NSCC said in a statement. Oxfam said: "As the eyes of the world are on the Council's unique meeting in Nairobi and trip to the Great Lakes region, now is the time to address forgotten African conflicts that have claimed millions of lives." "We urge the Council to turn words into concrete actions to stop the ongoing violence and address the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. They must also, together with the African Union, take early action in response to new crises before they spiral out of control," Oxfam's Regional Director Caroline Nursey said in a statement. It urged the Council to address the situation in northern Uganda as well. Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a statement issued on Thursday said: "The impunity enjoyed by the Sudanese authorities in their ongoing atrocities in Darfur demonstrates why the near-final peace deal to end the country’s North-South conflict must include accountability for human rights abuses." "Unless they are held accountable for abuses in the south, the Sudanese authorities will continue to believe they can get away with murder in Darfur," Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for HRW said in the statement. "There’s still time for Council members meeting in Nairobi to insist that the final peace agreement includes accountability for past abuses and protections against future ones." HRW called for the prosecution of those implicated in grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Sudan and the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure full disclosure of human rights abuses in the armed conflicts that have ravaged Sudan since 1983. It urged international mediators to insist that both the government and rebels be held accountable for past abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. On Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI), in a report titled: "Sudan: Arming the perpetrators of grave abuses in Darfur", accused foreign governments of allowing the supply of various types of arms into Sudan. "Foreign governments have enabled the government of Sudan to arm and deploy untrained and unaccountable militias that have deliberately and indiscriminately killed civilians in Darfur on a large scale - destroying homes, looting property and forcibly displacing the population," AI said. "The tragedy of Darfur is that the international community, already heavily engaged in the North-South peace process in Sudan, took far too long to recognise the state-sponsored pattern of violence and displacement and failed to act earlier to protect the population," it added. "[AI] specifically requests member states of the Security Council to impose a mandatory arms embargo on Sudan to stop those supplies [from] reaching the parties to the conflict in Darfur, including the government forces, until effective safeguards are in place to protect civilians from grave human rights abuses," AI said. The conflict in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias allied to it against the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equity Movement (JEM), who are fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region by the state. The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. Talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, between the Sudanese government and the rebels stalled early this month over a proposal to create a no-fly zone in the troubled area. The SLM/A and JEM, which have fought the government for the past 20 months, had agreed to sign the document, but Khartoum did not. The conflict between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels in the mainly Christian and animist region took up arms against authorities based in the Muslim, largely Arabised north to demand greater autonomy. In May, both sides signed six key protocols during talks in Naivasha, Kenya, covering power-sharing arrangements and the administration of three contested areas during a six-year interim period that will precede a referendum to determine whether the south would remain part of Sudan. The Nairobi meeting is the fourth time that the Council has met away from UN headquarters in New York, and its first formal meeting in the Kenyan capital. The Council consists of five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The other non-permanent members are currently Algeria, Angola, Benin, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania and Spain. The members are expected to travel to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda after the Nairobi meeting.