New York, Sep 26 (DPA) US President George W. Bush has called for a ceasefire and an end to “genocide” in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, where years of ethnic conflict have killed hundreds of thousands and made more than two million people refugees.
Bush attended a special session of the UN Security Council convened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and attended by the presidents of South Africa, Ghana, Indonesia, Slovakia, Panama, the Republic of Congo, the Emir of Qatar and the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Peru, Britain and the Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
“We expect President (Omar) al-Bashir (of Sudan) to observe a ceasefire before peace talks start next month and we want the rebels to do the same,” Bush said Tuesday.
New UN-led peace talks are to begin in Tripoli on Oct 27 in an effort to end conflicts in Sudan.
Bush earlier Tuesday told the General Assembly that the UN should swiftly deploy peacekeeping troops to halt genocide in Darfur and thanked France for its leadership on the issue.
“In Sudan, innocent civilians are also suffering repression – and in the Darfur region, many are losing their lives to genocide,” Bush said.
He called for “uniform pressure” on the Sudanese government to end the war in Darfur, saying the US has given $2 billion in aid for African nations and he wants to see results.
Bush gave support to the deployment of a European Union-led force to Chad and the Central African Republic, which was approved earlier by the Security Council. The force is to create security and favourable humanitarian conditions in areas inhabited by refugees.
The “multi-dimensional presence” of 300 police, 50 military liaison officers and a number of civilians to eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic, is tasked with working with the Chad and Sudan governments, UN refugee and relief agencies and the African Union.
The EU force will be deployed parallel to the deployment of the 26,000-strong hybrid peacekeeping in Darfur. The hybrid force of UN and AU military and civilian personnel will monitor the peace agreement in Darfur.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor, Indonesia’s Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Slovakia’s Ivan Gasparovic, Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and other diplomats all agreed on France’s steps to build up international support for the African continent.
The special Security Council meeting was an effort by France to rally international efforts to support African governments that are succeeding in turning around their economies and helping those that are failing.
France noted that the UN is particularly engaged in Africa and has deployed two-thirds of its peacekeeping operations on the continent.
In a concept paper on UN involvement in Africa, France called for peacekeeping consolidation in West Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and to address challenges facing the continent like global warming.
“As Africa takes charge of its destiny and undertakes to make considerable efforts to promote peace, stability and development on the continent, the international community must lend it renewed and determined support with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” the paper said.
The development goals seek to halve poverty, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, provide universal primary education to all children and stop infant mortality by 2015. A recent review said many African nations might fail to meet the target date because they have not made enough progress mid-way to 2015.