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Sudan reacts positively to future talks between Government and rebel Eastern Front

Sudan reacts positively to future talks between Government and rebel Eastern Front

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A senior UN official met today with Sudanese Acting Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and said the minister reacted positively to the idea of holding talks with the rebel Eastern Front, at a date to be determined, with the aim of finding a lasting solution to the eastern region’s problems.

Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (PDSRSG) Tayé Zerihoun was lending the good offices of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to persuade the two sides to agree on holding substantive peacebuilding talks.

The eastern confrontation in what is the largest country in Africa is conducted separately from the rebellion by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south, which has wound down after decades of civil strife, and also different from the ongoing clashes between Government-backed militia and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur, in western Sudan.

With regard to Darfur, Mr. Zerihoun met yesterday with the African Union (AU) mediator, former Organization for African Unity (OAU) head Salim Ahmed Salim, about the mid-September Sudanese talks. The sixth round of talks in Abuja, Nigeria, will focus on power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements, UNMIS said.

It said attacks on commercial trucks, including those contracted by the UN mission, as well as looting and banditry in villages, have been increasing in Darfur. “This is an issue that is of great concern for the humanitarian community,” it said.

Despite the insecurity, hundreds of villagers have been making short trips home to West Darfur during the rainy season to cultivate their land, despite claims by the Janjaweed Arab militia that the land now belongs to them, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

The conflict in Darfur has completely changed the dynamics between African tribes and Arab nomadic tribes, it said. Nomads used to respect traditional agreements about the time of the year their herds were allowed to use the cultivated land for grazing. This agreement is no longer honoured and the nomads now destroy planted fields.

Despite these tensions, small numbers of displaced people have returned for good to their villages in West Darfur. Out of 600,000 displaced villagers in the area, UNHCR estimates that 20,000 have returned to their homes permanently in the past 15 months.

Meanwhile, de-mining operations earlier this month caused injuries and two amputations, it added.

After recent heavy rains, malaria cases in North Darfur have increased to 800 per week from 300 per week two months ago, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said. Security needed to be strengthened in areas controlled by the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) to ensure safe passage throughout the area for health-care personnel, it said.