Sudan peace must end Darfur genocide today: Powell

After signing an accord that ends the long-running civil war in Sudan’s south, the US expects immediate progress on the crisis in the western region of Darfur, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday.

He put Sudan’s government on notice the prospect of good relations with the US depends on halting the violence in Darfur.

“These new ’partners for peace’ must work together immediately to end the violence and the atrocities that continue to occur in Darfur,” Powell said.

“Not next month or in the interim period but right away, starting today,” said the secretary, who signed on as a witness at the ceremony concluding an eight-year process to halt the war in the south.

The US and other countries “expect the new partners to use all necessary means to stop the violence and we expect to see rapid negotiations on the crisis in Darfur,” Powell said at the ceremony.

Later in Washington, US President George Bush added that “only the implementation of this agreement in good faith can result in long-term peace and development”.

The north-south agreement, he said, “should serve as an inspiration and model” for negotiating peace in Darfur.

“I call on the government of Sudan and on all Darfur rebel groups to live up to their cease-fire commitments, to end atrocities, and to allow the free movement of humanitarian workers and supplies,” he said.

Tens of thousands of villagers have died since non-Arab rebels rose up in February 2003 against Sudan’s Arab-dominated government and pro-government Arab tribal militia.

Powell has called that conflict a genocide.

The completed southern peace deal lays out a lengthy process to merge the rebel movement that controls the south with the government in Khartoum in the north. During the war, more than 2 million or more people died.

Powell said peace in Sudan was a priority of the administration from its first days and that Bush “stayed personally involved to ensure our efforts in Sudan had the administration’s highest level attention”.

After the signing, Powell offered hope for better relations with Sudan, which is on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. But he added: “Achieving this positive relationship will only be possible in the context of peace throughout the country.”