UN envoy Jan Pronk has warned that the recent Sudanese peace agreement could fail if the bloodshed in the western region of Darfur proves unstopable. The Khartoum government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) signed the peace deal in Kenya 9 January, capping some three years of negotiations to the long-running conflict in the south of the country. (6-FEB-05)
This article was first released by Pan African News Agency 6 February 6. It has been edited for republication here.
“I am convinced that without a solution in Darfur, the north-south will not maintain a sustainable peace agreement,” Pronk told UN Security Council Friday, in a report widely quoted by Sudanese papers Saturday. The envoy is asking for a UN peace-keeping force of more than 10,000 to oversee implementation of the north-south accord. UN estimates put at 70,000 the death toll in Darfur, where some two million people have been displaced by the fighting which erupted in February 2003.
Transitional constitution in the making
The UN panel which investigated alleged human rights abuses in the region said in its report that while there was no deliberate government policy to commit genocide in Darfur, government forces, militia and rebel groups committed war crimes that should be referred to the international Criminal Court for trial. Sudanese Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yasuin told reporters in Khartoum Friday the Khartoum government had already reacted to the report. He also said the government had amended more than 60 laws to comply with the recent peace agreement it signed with the SPLA/M. Yasuin said a joint legal committee would be formed by the government, the SPLA/M and other Sudanese political and civil organisations to draft a transitional constitution in accordance with the peace deal.
