Darfur talks continue amid kidnapping claims

The African Union (AU)-brokered talks between the Sudanese government and rebels continued here Tuesday in an effort to reach an agreement on the Darfur crisis amid kidnapping claims by the government.

According to local reports, a draft deal over the security of 1.2 million displaced people in Darfur, western Sudan, has been drawn up by the AU mediators, which is seen as a concrete progress before the UN Security Council meets on the issue Thursday.

The draft mainly focuses on free access to Darfur for UN aid agencies and international monitors. It also recommits Sudan to withdrawing its troops from the refugee camps, where government troops and Arab militia have been accused of attacks, threats and other forms of violence.

"The AU secretariat delivered the (peace agreement) draft to the two sides," Sudan's chief negotiator, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa said in Abuja. "The rebels demanded more time to discuss the draft, and so we will reconvene tomorrow at three o'clock (1400 GMT)."

Rebel negotiator Ahmed Mohammed Tugod confirmed the receipt of the draft and said they would examine it.

AU Commission spokesman Assane Ba had said he was hopeful of reaching a consensus agreement on an AU proposal for resolving the humanitarian crisis.

On Tuesday, the Sudanese government claimed that 22 health workers involved in a mass vaccination program had been kidnapped by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement in an area near the South Darfur state capital of Nyala.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) also said eight Sudanese nationals working for it and the Red Crescent went missing over the weekend in Darfur, and the government said that these too had been abducted.

The rebels denied involvement in the kidnappings, saying it's all propaganda by the Khartoum government and calling for proof of the allegations.

Meanwhile, a dispute over an alleged attack by Arab militia in a black African minority village in southern Darfur, which rebels said left 64 civilians dead, continued to hang over the talks. Some African officials confirmed the attack.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, also chairman of the AU, said that cease-fire monitors had confirmed the attack despite Khartoum's denials.

"The reported attacks by the government forces have been confirmed to me by the African Union chairman of the cease-fire monitoring commission," Obasanjo told a press conference in Abuja.

Obasanjo said he had written to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, asking him to ensure attacks on civilians by Sudanese forces or Arab militia be stopped to avoid undermining the Abuja talks.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet Thursday to examinethe situation in Darfur, a month after it gave the Sudanese government 30 days to establish security in the area. UN special envoy Jan Pronk will address the 15-member body.

In July, the Security Council adopted a resolution, giving the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm the Arab militias, which have driven hundreds of thousands of black Africans from their villages in the west of the country, or to face possible sanctions.

However, a senior Sudanese official said in Abuja on Monday that he believed the United Nations would not probably advocate sanctions as the situation improved.

Reports from the United Nations have said that Sudan had cooperated in dealing with the humanitarian crisis, but pointed out that Sudan had not reined in the Arab militia as the UN Security Council demanded in its resolution last month.

So far, the 15-month conflict in the Darfur region has reportedly killed an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people, driven more than 1 million people from their homes to other parts of Sudan and forced some 180,000 to flee to neighboring Chad.

Source: Xinhua