Sudan Peace Talks Fail

By Carrie Giardino
 
Peace talks on Sudan being held in Abuja, Nigeria have been suspended. The parties failed to reach agreement on issues of security and disarmament in the western Darfur region. But the parties say they will return to talks in a few weeks.

The talks were convened 2 to help resolve the situation in Darfur, where fighting between rebel groups and Arab militias 4 has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced over a million people to flee their homes. But little progress has been made in the talks and a draft resolution for humanitarian 5 assistance has not been signed.

A spokesman with the rebel faction 6, Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Hussain Adam, says all of the parties are in talks with the African Union to set a new date and location for renewed talks on resolving the crisis.

"We told the African Union that we are ready at any time to come and continue the negotiations 7 regarding the issues, the security issues and the humanitarian issues, and then the root causes and the political issues, as well," said Ahmed Hussain Adam. "But we need, actually, the African Union and the international community to put the pressure on the government, because the government didn't take any strategic decision to come to a political solution to this problem. We have to reach an agreement to alleviate 8 the plight 9 of all our people, and also to address the root problems of this conflict."

The rebels are calling on the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese government to disarm 1 the pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia 3, before the rebels agree to put down their own weapons. Mr. Adam called for a commission to examine the situation in Darfur.

"As [U.S. Secretary of State] Colin Powell said and as most of the international human rights organizations are stating, the genocide now is still occurring in Darfur," he said. "How [can] we prevent this? How [can] we protect civilians 10? How we can give them confidence that this genocide cannot continue? We need an impartial 11 commission to investigate the crimes. The government refused also this demand, clearly."

The Khartoum government does not want international forces to interfere 12 in the business of Sudan, and says it will disarm all factions 13 at the same time.

The talks in Abuja are a second attempt by the African Union to bring the government and the rebels together. The first round of talks, in Ethiopia, collapsed 14 in July.

Carrie Giardino for VOA News in Abidjan．

注释：
Abuja 阿布贾，尼日利亚首都
disarmament 裁军
conven 召集
militia 预备役部队
humanitarian 人道主义的
assistance 援助
pressure 压力
strategic 战略上的
alleviate 缓和
impartial 公平的
investigate 调查