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African Union Expands Darfur Mission
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African and regional efforts are stepped up to settle the Darfur conflict. (AFP)
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DARFUR,
October 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The African Union
announced has it was poised to boost the number of its peacekeepers in
Sudan’s troubled Darfur region as the Sudanese government and the
two rebel groups were set to launch a new round of peace talks in
Nigeria within the coming few days.
The
AU’s Peace and Security Council endorsed Wednesday, October 20, a
plan to increase the size of its peace mission in the Darfur to
monitor the shaky ceasefire agreement between Khartoum and the rebels,
reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
“The
expanded African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) will consist of 2,341
military personnel, among them 450 observers, up to 815 civilian
police, as well as the appropriate civilian personnel," the AU
statement read.
“The
mission will monitor and observe compliance with the humanitarian
ceasefire signed in April between Darfur rebels and the Khartoum
government and contribute to a secure environment in the region,"
it added.
Four
African countries, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Gabon will provide
for the new peace mission expansion.
The
AU currently has some 300 soldiers in Darfur, whose task is to protect
some 150 observers monitoring the April ceasefire between Khartoum and
Darfur rebel groups.
New
Round
The
new AU’s peace mission expansion comes as the Sudanese government
and the Darfur rebel groups are set to hold in the coming two days a
new round of peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
“We're
prepared to talk peace and achieve peace because this is crucial to
solving the humanitarian crisis in Darfur,” Ahmed Tugod, chief
negotiator of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told AFP
Thursday, October 21, in Abuja.
He
added three members of his group and two from the rebel Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM) had already arrived in Nigeria and more were
expected.
The
Sudanese government delegation arrived in Abuja late Thursday.
The
first round of peace talks between the Khartoum government and the two
Darfur rebel groups in the Nigerian capital Abuja ended
September 18 with no agreement between the two sides.
The
UN Security Council September 18 passed a US-drafted resolution
threatening to “envisage”
sanctions against Sudan's oil industry unless the Khartoum
government meets its commitment to restore security to its troubled
Darfur province.
The
United Nations labeled the Darfur conflict, which erupted in February
2003, as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis, putting the
number of people killed at 10,000 to 50,000 and over one million
reportedly forced to flee their homes.
US
Secretary of State Colin Powell described the situation in Darfur as
“a
genocide” and blamed the Sudanese government and the
so-called Janjaweed militia for it.
Dr.
Hussein Gezairy, Regional Director of World Health Organization’s
Eastern Mediterranean Region, had told IslamOnline.net that the
situation in the area did
not amount to genocide or ethnic cleansing.
Harassment
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“I defy the Security Council to convene a meeting in Gaza or Baghdad as it is intending to do for Darfur,” Ismail said. |
Meanwhile,
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mostafa Osman Ismail accused the United
Nations of harassing Sudan over the Darfur crisis.
“The
UN has lost its sense of direction in applying the international
charter,” APF quoted him as saying.
Ismail
said the international organization is paying a greater concern to the
Darfur problem than it does to the situation in Iraq or the
Palestinian territories.
“I
defy the Security Council to convene a meeting in Gaza or Baghdad as
it is intending to do for Darfur.”
The
Sudanese top diplomat was referring to a possible UN Security Council
meeting in November in Nairobi, a rare gathering outside its New York
headquarters on the Darfur peace process.
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