Annan calls for framework peace agreement for Darfur by end of next month

With violence increasing dangerously as militias and bandits grow more aggressive in western Sudan's Darfur region, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the international community and the Sudanese to ensure that a framework peace agreement is negotiated in the Nigerian capital by the end of next month.

"A further deterioration of the situation can be averted only by rapidly consolidating the progress made at the sixth round of talks in Abuja," he says in his latest monthly report to the Security Council.

To achieve a political solution, the Sudanese and the international community must work towards laying the groundwork for a seventh round of peace talks in Abuja, which should be the final round, Mr. Annan says.

"It is crucial that a framework peace agreement be concluded before the end of the year," he says. "Second, it is imperative that, in coordination with the Sudanese parties, the international community immediately begin to plan the programmes and assistance that will be necessary to ensure the successful implementation of any peace agreement reached at the negotiating table in Abuja."

The critical elements of a coordinated approach should include repairing the rift in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), which had serious engagements with Government forces in October, and conducting structured and dynamic consultations between the African Union's (AU) mediating team and the Sudanese parties over the power-sharing commission, the Secretary-General says.

"Talks outside of this framework, where some of the parties are excluded, will never lead to any sustainable agreements," he says.

The international partners should also encourage the involvement of southern Sudan's (SPLM) representatives in the Government of National Unity, he says.

Meanwhile, the Zam Zam camp took in its largest single influx yet of newly internally displaced persons (IDPs) in October, some 6,000 new arrivals, he reports.

On the humanitarian front, only 20 per cent of the vulnerable resident populations have adequate food supplies of their own, compared with 46 per cent last year. On the other hand, average malnutrition rates have dropped to 11.9 per cent this year from 21.8 per cent last year, he notes.

A five-month-old Government blockade of Kalma IDP camp was continuing, violating a significant number of provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law, while all parties were still recruiting children as combatants and several children were abducted or killed during the month. Of the rapes reported, the youngest victim was a15-year-old girl, Mr. Annan adds.