US ENVOY TO THE BUTCHERS OF SUDAN: “BE NICE….DON’T FIGHT’ SEE NOTE
“We call upon all parties to commit to an immediate ceasefire, all movements to join the peace talks,” Gration said in a conference call from Khartoum.
US envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, on Monday urged all parties to lay down their arms in troubled Darfur after a three-day visit to the region.
He insisted the Sudanese government bore the main responsibility for ensuring peace in the region, while also urging rebel groups to work towards ending the conflict.
“Too many people have died because some rebel leaders would rather continue fighting than negotiate a peace deal. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated,” Gration said.
In recent days Sudanese troops have attacked the only Darfur rebel group to have signed a peace deal with Khartoum in assaults that left one dead and several wounded, the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force said.
Darfur has been gripped by a civil war since 2003 that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict.
Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction leader Minni Minnawi signed a peace deal with the government of President Omar al-Bashir in 2006.
But a larger SLA faction, led by Abdelwahid Nur who lives in exile in France, has refused to take part in the process, as has the largest rebel movement, the Justice and Equality Movement.
Gration, however, voiced confidence that a referendum on self-determination in South Sudan would take place as planned on January 9.
The referendum is a key plank of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war. And most analysts expect the south to vote to break away and split the country in two.
But in contrast Gration said he did not believe a similar referendum could be organized on the same day in the disputed region oil-rich district of Abyei, which is also due to vote on whether it lies in the north or south.
“We passed the opportunity to have a poll,” Gration said, adding “it will take a political solution.”
He added Washington was “working very hard to prevent” violence and find a compromise “solution that makes both sides angry, but not mad.”
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