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Darfur Peace Talks Falter Over Security
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“I
can't say the deadlock is broken,” said Tugod
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ABUJA,
September 15 (IslamOnline.net) - The
African Union-brokered peace talks between the Sudanese government and
Darfur rebel leaders hit a snag again over security issues, barely 10
minutes after delegates resumed negotiations following a three-day
pause.
Mediators
adjourned the session Tuesday, September 14, in the Nigerian capital
Abuja
after hearing from the warring parties that there had been no change
in their positions since Friday's breakdown in dialogue, delegates
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
talks were adjourned Friday, September 10, after the Sudanese
government rejected an AU plan to restore security in the western
region of
Darfur
, where a 19-month conflict has forced many people from their homes.
Nigerian
President Olesegun Obasanjo, the current AU head, later met in his
office with government and rebel delegations for two hours but failed
to extract a compromise on disarmament and security, the key issues
which have bogged down the talks for several days now, delegates said.
“I
can't say the deadlock is broken. We met with President Obasanjo and
we stated very clearly our position,” the chief negotiator of rebel
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Ahmad Mohammed Tugod, said after
the meeting.
US
Blamed
Sudan
's deputy foreign minister Najeib Abdelwahab, who is attending the
Abuja
talks, blamed the
United States
for the deadlock.
Last
week,
US
Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed that
Sudan
's Arab-led regime was guilty of "genocide"
following their bloody crackdown on the black African minority tribes
suspected of supporting
Darfur
's rebels.
“The
negotiations have been very much undermined by Powell's declaration,
which led our brothers (the rebels) to stay very firmly on their
positions,” Abdelwahab told reporters at
Abuja
's
International
Conference
Center
.
“The
United States needs to inject new blood into these negotiations by
sending the right signals to our brothers who are using this statement
not to move forward in the talks,” said Abdelwahab.
The
Sudanese government has rejected a genocide accusation made by
Washington
as grandstanding by the
US
administration ahead of the November presidential election.
Security
Measures
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Darfuris
want security (AFP)
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Rebel
delegates are frustrated that
Khartoum
has thus far refused to enter into negotiations on a political
settlement for
Darfur
, concentrating instead on security measures and demanding the
disarmament of its opponents.
But
Abduljabbar Dofa, a spokesman for the second rebel group, the Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM), said that his group was not about to
abandon the process.
"We
have no intention of leaving the talks. We are ready to continue
negotiations. You see us here to continue the dialogue," he told
reporters.
Earlier
another SLM spokesman had told AFP by telephone from
London
that the government's intransigence could force the rebels to quit the
table.
Rising
Pressures
Meanwhile,
pressures continue unabated against the Sudanese government for ending
tension in
Darfur
.
The
United States
put forward Tuesday a new
draft UN resolution threatening sanctions on
Sudan
's oil industry if the government does not end the bloodshed in
Darfur
.
The
draft maintains the sanctions threat that had been opposed by several
council nations when a first version was circulated last week. But it
now says only that the council will “consider” them if
Sudan
does not comply.
“Our
hope is that the vote will come towards the end of this week,” said
US
ambassador John Danforth just before the draft was circulated.
A
delegation from Amnesty International described the situation in
Sudan
's war-torn western region of
Darfur
as unacceptable, ahead of a journey to the region to investigate
alleged human rights abuses there.
The
fact-finding mission, headed by Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan,
hopes to establish what the situation is for civilians on the ground,
as well as confirm
Khartoum
's claims that the security situation in the 19-month conflict has
improved.
“What
is happening in
Darfur
is unacceptable in terms of the loss of lives, displacement and human
rights violations, such as rape, which are being perpetrated there and
the culprits unpunished,” Amnesty spokesman Samkelo Mokhine said.
During
talks with Amnesty in
Khartoum
Tuesday, Interior Minister Abdul Rahim Hussein said he had deployed
additional forces to the region to ensure the safety of civilians,
said Mokhine.
The
government says that tens of thousands of internally displaced persons
and refugees have voluntarily returned to their homes in recent
months, following an improvement in the security situation.
“That's
one of the things that we will be verifying,” when the delegation
travels to
Darfur
Wednesday, said Mokhine.
The
two sides have already agreed on a deal to cooperate on allowing
greater access for humanitarian agencies and setting up a joint
humanitarian monitoring unit, but have not signed the pact.
Observers
and newspapers have accused the
United States
of pushing forward pressures on
Sudan
for the sake of controlling oil reserves.
The
oil concession in southern
Darfur
is currently in the hands of the China National Petroleum Company.
As
oil pipelines continue to be blown up in
Iraq
, the west "not only has a clear motive for establishing control
over alternative sources of energy, it has also officially adopted the
policy that our armies should be used to do precisely this," the Guardian
reported
Monday, August 2.
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