ABUJA, Nigeria, 27 August 2004 — A top Sudanese official said yesterday his country would ignore the deadline to end attacks by a government-allied Arab militia accused of atrocities in the bloodied Darfur region, but would instead resolve the crisis through African Union peace talks.
“We aren’t bothered by the UN deadline at all. It never crossed our mind. We are working toward our duties for our people,” said Sudan’s Agriculture Minister Majzoub Al-Khalifa, lead government negotiator at peace talks with Darfur rebels in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
“We are a dignified people, not like other people and we will never compromise our national interests to that of any interest anywhere in the world,” said Khalifa, defiant in the face of an Aug. 30 UN Security Council deadline for the government to improve security in Darfur and rein in the Janjaweed militia there or face possible international sanctions.
A resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on July 30 gave the government 30 days to improve the situation in Darfur or face possible sanctions. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to deliver a written report on Sudan’s compliance by Aug. 30 and a UN official currently monitoring the situation in Sudan will deliver his assessment to the council on Sept. 2.
The Sudanese press yesterday quoted Anna’s envoy Jan Pronk as saying the situation in Darfur “has not changed much” and the United Nations wanted action not words.
“In Khartoum, we hear a lot of fine words, but the situation in Darfur has not changed much,” Pronk said. “The UN doesn’t want promises, but their fulfillment.”
At Abuja talks, Nigeria confirmed the imminent deployment of 150 troops to protect African Union cease-fire monitors in Darfur.
The United Nations says violence has driven about 1.4 million people from their homes to some 147 camps throughout Darfur’s three states, while another 180,000 Darfur refugees have fled into neighboring Chad. Some 30,000 have died in Darfur violence.
The Janjaweed are accused of attacking ethnic African villagers in what the US Congress and some aid groups call genocide. The government, accused of supporting the Janjaweed, only admit to having some “control” over them.
Khalifa said the peace conference will continue after the passing of the UN deadline. “We’re going to continue the talks and the deadline will pass and we will continue negotiations for as long as it takes and that could be anything between five days and one month,” he said before entering a fourth day of the African Union-hosted talks. The United Nations says Darfur has become the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since African rebels rose against the government in February 2003, claiming discrimination in the distribution of scarce resources. The uprising followed years of clashes between Darfur’s ethnic Arab herders and ethnic African farmers over scarce resources.
