KHARTOUM, 5 September 2004 — The Sudanese government kept up its demand for ethnic minority rebels in Darfur to be disarmed alongside state-sponsored Arab militias, as troubled peace talks resumed in Nigeria yesterday. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail railed against the double standard of the international community in demanding the immediate disarmament of the militias but not putting the same pressure on the rebels, the Khartoum press reported.
“The two rebel movements were moving around with their weapons among civilians,” the Al-Akhbar Al-Youm daily quoted the minister as saying.
Ismail said that both the African Union’s resolution on the Darfur crisis and the abortive cease-fire agreement reached in Chad in April required cantonment of the rebels concurrently with disarmament of the militias.
“But the rebels did not respond to this condition,” the minister said, insisting the militias had only armed themselves to protect their Arab fellow tribesmen. “How can we disarm when the rebels are still holding onto their weapons?” he asked.
A report to the Security Council by UN envoy Jan Pronk reported that by the Aug. 29 deadline set last month Khartoum had done nothing to meet its obligation to disarm the militias held responsible for a reign of terror in Darfur. Ismail took issue with that assessment, insisting “the government has begun disarming” the militias.
The issue of cantonment of rebel forces is a major stumbling block at peace talks in Abuja, with the rebels refusing to countenance any such move while the militias remain at large. The talks resumed yesterday after a pause for a day of rest.
In an interview with state television yesterday, Ismail also renewed Khartoum’s opposition to the deployment of any additional foreign troops to Darfur without its explicit consent. He said Khartoum reserved the right to approve each troop-contributing country and even the identity of individual monitors.
He also reiterated his government’s opposition to any move to convert the African Union protection force currently charged with assuring cease-fire monitors’ security into a full-blown peacekeeping force.
His comments came as Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo pledged the African bloc would send more troops to Darfur if requested to do so. Ismail insisted that despite the UN envoy’s critical report, he was “not disturbed” by the Security Council’s imminent response.
“It will demand from the government more security measures,” he predicted, referring in particular to greater protection for the 1.2 million plus people estimated to have been displaced from their homes by the government’s clampdown, who still complain of harassment by militiamen around their camps.
Ismail also said the United States was wrong to try to label the conflict in Darfur as genocide and said recent hard-line US statements on Sudan were aimed at domestic constituencies and the US elections. “As long as elections are going on, and as long as both parties are competing for the votes of the African-Americans you should not expect a neutral or fair position to the situation in Darfur,” Ismail told reporters.
The US said on Friday it was preparing a new UN resolution on Darfur and that US Secretary of State Colin Powell might address next week whether the violence in western Sudan constituted genocide. The US Congress has already labeled the conflict in Darfur genocide but the administration of President George W. Bush has not yet taken that step.
“Its (US) decisions are influenced by internal factors whether they be pressure groups or the pending elections. (US) Congress’ stance on genocide is and remains a solitary one ... because it (genocide) is simply not happening,” he said. “We are open, we are ready for cooperation. You (America) should give us a chance. You shouldn’t push for confrontation,” he said. Fighting erupted in Darfur in February 2003 when rebels took up arms against Khartoum after years of low-level clashes between African farmers and Arab nomads over scarce resources.
