2007年VOA标准英语-UN Envoy Urges Sudanese Rebel Leaders to Partic

The U.N. envoy¹ to Darfur, Jan Eliasson, says he fears the start of what he calls "a new and dangerous phase" in the four-year-old conflict in western Sudan unless all warring parties take part in a United Nations-African Union mediated² political process.  As VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, the absence of two important rebel leaders from that process is hampering³ efforts to reach a final agenda for peace talks with the Sudanese government, due to begin in two months.

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Faction leaders for SLM Khamis Abdalla Abakar, left, and SLA Ahmed Abdulshafi chat during a session of AU-UN sponsored negotiations in Tanzania, 06 Aug 2007

The meeting, organized by Eliasson and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, concluded Monday with an agreement on land issues and power and wealth-sharing. 

"All movement leaders came, except one, and this is the most representative meeting we have had since the Abuja talks last year," he said

At those talks in Nigeria, the Sudanese government signed a peace deal, but only one Darfur rebel group endorsed⁷ it.  The endorsement⁸ fractured the rebels into myriad⁹ splinter groups and sparked a new round of violence in the region.

The rebel leader who boycotted¹⁰ the Arusha talks is Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, founder¹¹ of the Sudan Liberation Army, which started the rebellion against Khartoum in 2003.

Nur, living in exile in Paris, refused to attend, arguing that a ceasefire should be in place and a no-fly zone established in Darfur ahead of any peace talks.

Eliasson says he remains¹² hopeful that Nur will join the others at the negotiating table.  The rebel leader's participation¹³ in the political process is considered crucial because he has a huge following among Darfur's largest tribe, the Fur.

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A chair reserved for the Sudan Liberation Movement's Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur stands empty at the AU-UN sponsored conference to seek peace among Darfur's warring factions, 3 Aug 2007

Another key rebel leader absent from the Arusha talks was the Sudan Liberation Army's humanitarian¹⁵ coordinator¹⁶, Suleiman Jamous.  

Jamous, who is highly regarded as a consensus¹⁷ builder among rebel commanders, could not leave the U.N. hospital in Darfur, where he has been virtually imprisoned¹⁸ for more than a year.  Sudan accuses Jamous of being a terrorist and has threatened to arrest him if he left the hospital. 

On Tuesday, Sudan's foreign ministry¹⁹ said Jamous could join the peace process if the international community guarantees he will not rejoin the armed rebellion in Darfur.

The U.N. envoy says he believes every effort must be made to bring all of the leaders together and quickly find an end to the bloodshed in Darfur, which has killed some 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others in the past four years.  

"If we do not take this opportunity now, I am worried about the frustration²⁰ and anger in the camps that could take different forms," he noted²¹.  "I worry about tribal²² clashes that are going on right now.  And I worry about settlers taking over land, which is owned by other people.  This will mean that we may enter a new dangerous phase of the situation in Darfur.  So, here is a crucial time."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected in Khartoum Saturday to discuss ways to move the Darfur peace process forward.