From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Apr 17 2009 - 07:48:59 EDT
Some Darfur aid to resume, but rebels must talk peace: Kerry
17 Apr 2009
KHARTOUM, April 17, 2009 (AFP) - US Senator John Kerry Thursday urged rebels
in Darfur to engage in peace talks with Khartoum and announced the partial
resumption of aid, frozen after Sudan's decision to expel foreign aid
groups.
"What encouraged me today was the fact that every member of the government
told me that they are ready to come to the table now with respect to peace
discussions and achieving peace in Darfur," Kerry said.
"But we all recognized that the rebels must also do the same," he added
after talks with Sudan's second vice president Ali Osman Mohammed Taha.
Kerry, chairman of the US senate foreign relations committee, is making a
three-day visit to Sudan -- the second by a US official since the
International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar
al-Beshir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
The senator and one-time US presidential hopeful also said that some
humanitarian aid for Darfur would be restored, but underlined that this in
itself was not enough.
"Darfur, as we all know all have been at the center of events that have been
defining Sudan for the world," he said.
"It is also been the scene of the world largest humanitarian efforts
supported by the United States and carried out by many dedicated Sudanese
and international humanitarian organizations."
Kerry said that, following Khartoum's decision to "engage in a new dialogue
with us, some of that capacity for the humanitarian assistance will be
restored."
But he stressed: "A partial restoration of capacity is not sufficient. A
humanitarian crisis is a humanitarian crisis."
Kerry's three-day visit will take him to Darfur, where a civil war that
began in 2003 has resulted in the deaths of about 300,000 people, according
to the United Nations.
Kerry's trip came a week after a visit by the US special envoy to Sudan,
Scott Gration. His agenda included meetings with advisors to Beshir and to
Vice President Ali Osman Taha.
During his visit, Gration had said the United States wanted to strengthen
its ties with Sudan, but he warned of an impending crisis after Sudan
expelled 13 foreign aid groups from Darfur.
Khartoum alleges that the groups had cooperated with the International
Criminal Court (ICC).
Kerry will not meet with Beshir during his visit, officials have said.
US President Barack Obama had condemned the expulsions of the relief groups.
His administration has said that Beshir should be held accountable but that
the United States, which is not a signatory to the treaty which created the
ICC, is not obliged to arrest him.
Relations between the US and Beshir have been strained. The United States
imposed sanctions against in 1997 against Sudan for harbouring Al-Qaida
leader Osama Bin Laden.
It bombed a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan a year later, saying the site was
used to make chemical weapons.
The United States has termed the killings in Darfur as genocide. The region
plunged into civil war in 2004 after ethnic rebels took up arms against the
Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of discrimination.
Beshir has denied the ICC's charges against him, and Sudan says 10,000
people have died in the conflict.
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