Visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on Wednesday
that the peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and
rebel movements in the western Sudanese region of Darfur would
resume soon.
Ban made the announcement at a meeting in Fashir, the capital
city of North Darfur State, with governor of the state Osman
Mohammed Yousef Kibr and other senior officials of the state
government.
Ban said he and Alfa Omar Konare, the African Union (AU)
commissioner, would send invitations soon to the parties concerned
to attend the next round of the Darfur peace negotiations.
UN and AU mediators have expected that the Darfur peace talks,
which have been deadlocked since the Sudanese government signed the
Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) with a main rebel faction in the
Nigerian capital Abuja in May 2006, will restart in October.
Ban disclosed that he would have more consultations with
Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir during their meeting in Khartoum
on Thursday in the arrangements and ideas about the upcoming peace
talks between the Sudanese government and non-signatories of the
DPA.
The UN chief reiterated his full commitment to Resolution 1769,
adopted by the UN Security Council on July 31, on a hybrid
peacekeeping operation to be conducted by the UN and the AU in
Darfur.
Ban said a large quantity of resources were needed for the
implementation of this resolution besides a cooperation of all the
parties concerned.
North Darfur State governor Kibr, on his part, underlined a
tangible improvement of the security and humanitarian situation in
Darfur since the DPA was signed, due to the efforts exerted by the
Sudanese government on the local and national levels.
Kibr called on the parties concerned to implement Resolution
1769 with "a complete neutrality and transparency," and urging the
UN to respect Sudan's sovereignty and to deal with the Darfur issue
with a total transparency.
Ban arrived in Fashir earlier Wednesday on the first visit of a
UN secretary general in Darfur since the conflict erupted in the
region in February 2003.
The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said in a statement that when
Ban arrived for a meeting at the UNMIS headquarters in Fashir with
representatives of internally displaced persons (IDPs) selected
amongst themselves from all three IDP camps in Fashir area, a group
of uninvited people showed up and tried to force their way into the
meeting but failed because of security precautions.
After a brief delay, Ban resumed his scheduled activities,
including a meeting with three representatives of the IDPs and
another with civil society and traditional leaders.
"The UN secretary general had offered to meet with the other
group if time permits," the statement added.
Ban flew to Darfur from Juba, southern Sudan, where he had held
a meeting with Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayarditand
delivered an address at the Juba University on Tuesday.
Ban started his first official visit in Sudan on Monday, which
is to last for five days.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)
