African Union (AU) Chairman Denis Sassou-Nguesso on Sunday urged
Sudan's government and rebels to show "necessary political will" so
as to achieve a breakthrough in the long-running Darfur
negotiations.
Sassou-Nguesso, who is also the president of the Republic of the
Congo, met the warring parties from Saturday night till Sunday
morning and then afternoon with his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun
Obasanjo and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha in the
Nigerian capital Abuja.
"It was frank and exploratory," Obasanjo told reporters after
the meeting. "They will continue to meet to see how they can bridge
the gap. All are willing to make a success of this."
Majzoub al-Khalifa, head of the Sudanese government delegation,
also said that they had "made some progress" but did not give
details. Representatives of the Darfur rebels, however, said
nothing new had come out of the meeting.
An AU statement issued after the meeting quoted Sassou-Nguesso
as urging "the Sudanese parties to move away from their hitherto
fixed and maximalist positions, and to muster the necessary
political will so as to achieve the much needed breakthrough in the
negotiations."
Sassou-Nguesso stressed "the urgency that all the stakeholders
attach to the need to bring about a negotiated and political
solution to the conflict ... to expeditiously conclude the
negotiations," the statement said.
The negotiations, in their seventh round, had made slow progress
in the past two years but a resolution adopted by the AU Peace and
Security Council on March 10 called for the warring parties to
reach a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of April.
So far, the warring parties have agreed to consider and adopt
anew ceasefire agreement, which "effectively addresses the grey
areas" in the April 2004 one, in the coming days, the AU statement
said. Mediators hope that would pave the way for immediate
conclusion for the comprehensive agreement.
They also agreed to direct negotiation as a means of bridging
the gap between them, it said.
"We have requested the Chief Mediator, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim to
expedite the preparation of a comprehensive package on the three
calabashes of power sharing, wealth sharing and security
arrangements for final consideration by the parties,"
Sassou-Nguesso was quoted as saying.
Darfur rebels took up arms against Khartoum in February 2003,
accusing the government of negligence. Many people have been killed
in the conflict and more displaced.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2006)
