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Sudan
Foes Pledge Peace, UN Adopts Resolution
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Sudanese First Vice President ( R ) and SPLM leader shake hands during UN Security Council meeting in Nairobi
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NAIROBI,
November 19 (IslalmOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Sudanese
government and southern rebels have signed Friday, November 19, an
agreement pledging to reach a final peace deal by the end of the year,
as the UN security council adopted the resolution they agreed on
Thursday.
The
Khartoum government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
(SPLM) signed the agreement during the UN Security Council session in
Nairobi, the first to be held outside its New York headquarters in 14
years, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
John
Danforth, the council president and a former US peace envoy to Sudan,
said the promised deal was the only chance of rebuilding Africa's
biggest country.
The
Security Council ambassadors then passed
a resolution offering aid and assistance if the two
sides live up to their promise.
The
peace pledge was signed by a Sudanese government official and a SPLM
representative, witnessed by UN Security Council ambassadors.
Addressing
the Council meeting Thursday, SPLM leader John Garang said he was
committed to the new year-end deadline.
“I
see no reason, no serious obstacle, that would prevent us from signing
the final peace agreement by the end of this year 2004,” he said.
On
May 26, the two parties signed three
crucial protocols on power-sharing and the
administration of three disputed regions.
UN
Resolution
Meanwhile,
the resolution adopted unanimously by UN Security Council members
meeting in Kenya is seen as a huge push for restoring peace in the
war-torn Sudan.
Security
Council resolution 1574 specifically urges the Khartoum government and
southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to
make good on their peace pledge signed Friday.
It
dangles the prospect of massive development aid if a deal is struck,
and suggests its signing would help bring peace to other areas of
Sudan, notably the western region of Darfur, where a separate conflict
has spawned what the UN terms the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
It
also demanded that government and rebel forces in Darfur, where war
erupted in February 2003 “cease all violence and attacks, including
abduction and refrain from forcible relocation of civilians.”
“The
parties recommend themselves to finalize and conclude a comprehensive
peace agreement in recognition that prompt completion of the peace
process is essential for all the people of the Sudan as it will help
in resolving all challenges facing the country,” the draft
resolution says.
Danforth
described the UN resolution as “good” and “balanced”.
“I
think it is a good balanced resolution... It is one that clearly
recognizes the tragedy of Darfur and the fact that we have already
passed two resolutions on this subject.”
Last
month, the UN Security Council adopted a
US-drafted resolution threatening Sudan with oil sanctions if it
failed to restore order in Darfur.
Too
Weak
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Sudanese refugees in Kenya demonstrate outside the UN compound
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The
resolution, however, drew severe rebukes from international aid
organizations and Sudanese refugees, describing it as “weak”.
International
aid agency Oxfam damned the resolution as “weak” and
“dithering”.
“Instead
of responding to the ongoing crisis in Darfur with concrete action,
the Security Council could only agree to 'monitor compliance' with
previous resolutions,” Oxfam said in a statement.
“For
the people of Darfur, 'monitoring compliance' has become UN speak for
more death and suffering,” the statement added.
The
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said the UN Security council “appears
to have watered down its previous threats to hold the Khartoum
government accountable for the continuing human rights abuses in
Darfur”.
The
New York-based group also lamented that the text weakened the threat
of possible future international action against Khartoum.
“We
fear that the government of Sudan will take this resolution as a blank
cheque to continue its persecution of the civilian population in
Darfur,” HRW's Sudan researcher Jereman Rone said.
A
few dozen Sudanese refugees including children also protested outside
the UN compound in Nairobi Friday against the resolution, branding it
“weak” and fails to halt what they branded “human rights
violations in Darfur”.
“That
was a terribly weak resolution,” protested John Lasu, one of the
demonstrators, according to AFP.
“It
will do nothing to make Khartoum heed the international cry to stop
fighting in Darfur,” Lasu added.
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