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 Rebels Back Proposal to End War in Darfur
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Rebels Back Proposal to End War in Darfur By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
2
hours, 15 minutes ago
ABUJA, Nigeria - Sudanese rebels on Thursday endorsed a new proposal drafted by the United States and Britain to help end the war in the troubled Darfur region, saying it meets their key demands and could set the stage for a peace accord.
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A rebel negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity because the parties involved had been asked not to reveal details of the proposal, said it called for thousands of rebels to be integrated into Sudanese security forces.
Sudanese government officials were not immediately available for comment but have indicated they were ready to make concessions.
Jaffer Monro, spokesman for the largest rebel group, the Sudan Liberatian Movement, told The Associated Press that the U.S.-drafted revisions to an earlier draft made an agreement possible.
"We are going to study them, but the improvements give us the sign that we can agree, that we do not need to renegotiate and that there will be no further delay for the final agreement," he said.
The rebel statements came as top U.S. and British envoys faced a Thursday midnight deadline to persuade Darfur's warring parties to sign a peace pact and resolve the crisis that has claimed at least 180,000 lives and forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes in the vast western Sudanese region.
The negotiator said the draft called for a minimum of 4,000 rebels to be integrated into Sudan's armed forces and another 1,000 in the police force. In addition, 3,000 rebels would be given training and education to prepare them for civilian life.
The concessions from the Sudanese government make agreement possible, though the rebels remained concerned about security arrangements, according to the negotiator.
The European Union's executive Commission, which has been closely following the talks in the Nigerian capital, also said Thursday a deal was imminent and announced it would contribute $125 million for a humanitarian and initial recovery package.
Sudan appeared ready Wednesday to agree to faster disarmament of Arab militias in Darfur and to accept more rebels into its security forces, government spokesman Abdulrahman Zuma said.
Rebels had over the weekend rejected an initial peace proposal drafted by African Union mediators who have been working with the sides for two years.
That proposal, which was accepted by Khartoum called for a protection force for civilians in the immediate aftermath of the three-year-old war, but did not spell out its composition. The rebels want a joint protection force comprising rebels and government, African Union and U.N. forces.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, British Cabinet member Hilary Benn and other international envoys stepped in to try to work out a compromise.
Since the Westerners' arrival, the Sudanese government has shown increasing flexibility.
"Through this so-called American initiative, it seems that the government is going to make some concessions, especially about reintegration and disarmament," Zuma told AP on Wednesday.
The initial draft called for disarmament of the Arab militias known as Janjaweed, but did not specify how quickly that would accomplished or how many rebels would be absorbed into national security forces.
Two Sudanese rebels close to the negotiations, also declining to be identified until the new proposal is made official, said the revised draft addressed their demands for greater power and wealth sharing.
Zuma said the power and wealth sharing issues had been settled and were not open to discussion.
Earlier, Monro had said the rebels would press for the United Nations or another body to take over the peace talks if the initial proposal was not significantly changed.
African Union mediators have often expressed frustration at the seeming unwillingness of either side to compromise or adhere to a cease-fire declared in April 2004.
African Union spokesman Nouredine Mezni said African mediators had made "titanic efforts" to produce the draft proposal and any changes would have to be negotiated by other parties.
The U.S. and British officials appeared to step into that breach. They were sent to Abuja, the Nigerian capital where the talks are taking place, after thousands of Americans including several legislators protested over the weekend to demand an end to the slaughter in Darfur.
Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in Darfur erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 with rebels demanding regional autonomy. The central government is accused of responding by unleashing Janjaweed militias upon civilians, a charge Sudan denies.
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 Re: Rebels Back Proposal to End War in Darfur (Re: Mohamed Suleiman)
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Sudan, Darfur rebels presented with new peace deal By Estelle Shirbon
30 minutes ago
ABUJA (Reuters) - Western and African diplomats presented Sudan's government and Darfur rebels with a new peace deal on Thursday, putting both sides under intense pressure to end a three-year conflict before a midnight deadline.
"A package has been put together and presented to the parties, but there are no takers yet," said a senior member of a U.S.-led diplomatic team involved in talks between the two sides in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
"What we are saying to the (rebels) is, 'Please take it and then we can put pressure on the government'," said the diplomat, requesting anonymity.
He said it was possible the parties would agree to the new peace package at a meeting due to take place at the Nigerian presidential villa but there was no certainty.
The government accepted the African Union's original proposals on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing but three rebel factions from Sudan's western Darfur region objected to many provisions.
African Union (AU) mediators have twice put back by 48 hours a deadline for an agreement to allow more diplomatic efforts, now being led by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.
The new deadline is midnight (2300 GMT) on Thursday.
"The gaps between the parties are so wide that only the kind of concerted international pressure we're seeing here has a chance of working," said a Western diplomat closely involved in the talks, asking not to be identified.
ARID REGION
Rebels took up arms in early 2003 in ethnically mixed Darfur, an arid region the size of France, over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated central government.
Khartoum used militias, known as Janjaweed and drawn from Arab tribes, to crush the rebellion. Tens of thousands of people have died, while a campaign of arson, #####ng and rape has driven more than 2 million from their homes into refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.
"The scenario of failure is very scary. You can be sure that the government would go after (the rebels)," said another Western diplomat, adding that parties blocking a deal would probably face U.N. sanctions.
Zoellick's team, along with Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn and a host of European Union and Canadian diplomats, shuttled between government and rebel delegations.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who is also AU chairman, were due to hold a series of separate meetings with the parties involved, the AU's chief mediator Salim Ahmed Salim said.
A senior AU source said the midnight deadline was likely to slip but only for discussions to continue late into the night.
"The clock will stop at midnight but this is it. There is no extension," he said.
The thrust of a U.S. proposal was that Khartoum should accept a detailed plan for rebels to be integrated into Sudan's armed forces, a key rebel demand.
In exchange, part of the draft deal that says Khartoum must disarm the Janjaweed before the rebels lay down their weapons would be amended to better suit the government.
INFIGHTING
The rebels are split into two movements and three factions with complex internal politics and a history of infighting, making it hard to agree on any major decision. So far, they have said they were dissatisfied with many aspects of the draft.
For example, they want a post of Sudanese vice-president, a new regional government, greater representation in both national and local institutions, and individual compensation for victims of war. Mediators say they have been inflexible on these points.
Peace talks have dragged on for two years in Abuja while violence has escalated in Darfur to the point that aid workers cannot reach thousands of refugees.
Further complicating the situation is a crisis in Chad, which the rebels use as a rear base and where President Idriss Deby is battling insurgents he accuses Sudan of supporting.
"The situation (in Darfur) is poor, bad and very alarming," Louise Arbour, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told Reuters in Khartoum after a two-day visit to Darfur this week.
Aid workers say a deal is vital before the rainy season begins in June when planting of food crops must be completed.
(Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Nairobi, Kamilo Tafeng in Khartoum, David Brunnstrom in Brussels)
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Mohamed Suleiman
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست