Peace agreement signed on Darfur crisis

Sudan’s government and two rebel groups signed an agreement on how to resolve the conflict in the country’s western Darfur region.

Representatives of Sudan’s government, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement all signed the declaration of political principles - outlining a long-term solution to the Darfur crisis – at a public ceremony in the Nigerian capital Abuja last night.

Negotiators at the Abuja talks agreed to broad commitments, including upholding democracy, the independence of the judiciary and “justice and equality for all, regardless of ethnicity, religion and gender”.

Insurgent and government representatives have signed numerous ceasefire and other pacts in past rounds of peace talks, but none has yet eased the crisis in Darfur.

The document appeared to fall far short of the comprehensive peace agreement originally hoped for when the latest round of peace talks began last month.

“By adopting the Declaration of Principles, you have demonstrated your own determination that you will not let down the people of Darfur … and you will not let down our friends in the international community,” Salim Ahmed Salim, the African Union’s special envoy for Darfur, told negotiators.

The 53-nation African Union is hosting the peace talks, now in their fifth round.

Rebels from black African tribes took up arms in Darfur in February 2003, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan’s Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of responding by backing a scorched-earth counterinsurgency by Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed.

War-induced hunger and disease have killed more than 180,000 people and driven more than two million from their homes, according to UN estimates.