UN chief disappointed by Sudan ceasefire talks failure
disappointment over the failure of talks between the
Sudanese government and rebels on a ceasefire in
Darfur and two other conflict zones.
The talks on a cessation of hostilities in Darfur, Blue
Nile and South Kordofan were held in Addis Ababa
last week after three prominent rebel groups signed
a roadmap brokered by African Union mediators
for ending the conflicts in the three areas.
Their signing of the roadmap, which had already
been signed by the Sudanese government, had
raised hopes of a breakthrough after successive
rounds of abortive talks.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and
millions displaced in the three regions as ethnic
minority groups rebelled against President Omar al-
Bashir’s Arab-dominated government.
The signing of the roadmap by two Darfur rebel
groups — the Justice and Equality Movement and
the Sudan Liberation Army – Minni Minnawi faction
— and the main rebel group in the other two areas
— the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North
— prompted the renewed ceasefire talks but they
again broke down.
“The secretary general is disappointed that the
Sudanese parties failed to reach an agreement on a
cessation of hostilities in Darfur and the two areas
of Blue Nile and South Kordofan states,” a UN
statement released on Wednesday said.
“He reiterates that there can be no lasting
alternative to a negotiated settlement and stresses
that a cessation of hostilities is the first,
indispensable step towards achieving this goal.”
The African Union mediating panel criticised the
Darfur rebels for the failure of the talks.
“The panel believes that the parties have allowed a
real and critical opportunity to slip out of their
hands,” it said in a statement.
It blamed the JEM and SLA-Minnawi for the failure
of the Darfur talks, saying the two groups had
“reopened numerous issues that had previously
been agreed and others which contradicted the
roadmap agreement”.
The panel said that the talks on Blue Nile and South
Kordofan had been derailed by disagreements over
the handling of humanitarian aid.
“The impasse … has frozen the prospects for peace
for the people of Darfur and the two areas,” it said.
The conflicts in the border states of South Kordofan
and Blue Nile erupted when South Sudan broke
away in 2011.
The Darfur rebels took up arms in 2003, triggering
a conflict in which at least 300,000 people have been
killed and 2.5 million fled their homes, according to
the UN.
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