| By
the end of April: |
| Sudan expects
Darfur peace deal |
agencies
Sudan
said on Friday it expected a peace deal in Darfur
by the end of April, but a respected think tank
said the conflict could kill thousands more people
and spark proxy wars in neighboring countries.
Civil war has raged in Sudan's vast western region
since February 2003, pitting rebels against government
forces and Arab militias. Tens of thousands have
died and 2 million been forced from their homes.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told reporters
in Nairobi a new ceasefire proposal by the African
Union (AU) would enable Khartoum to make peace
with the two main rebel groups quickly.
"
The AU has been very optimistic and ... confident
that before the end of April a solution will
be available in Darfur."
But a hard-hitting report by the International
Crisis Group (ICG) said thousands of U.N. peacekeepers
must immediately join a stretched AU force
to prevent more deaths in Darfur.
Lambasting the international community for
its "dismal" response
to the conflict, it said failure to deploy U.N.
troops could also fan tensions between Sudan
and neighboring Chad, which accuses Khartoum
of backing rebels intent on overthrowing President
Idriss Deby.
"
The consequences if these steps are not taken
are all too easy to foresee: tens of thousands
more lives lost, spill-over of the conflict into
Chad and proxy wars that destabilize a wide swathe
of Africa," said the ICG report titled "To
Save Darfur".
The AU voted last week to extend its 7,000-strong
mission in Darfur until September 30, then
support "in
principle" its transformation into a larger,
better-equipped U.N. force.
Sudan says deployment of such a force before
a peace deal would mean the end of AU-mediated
talks in Nigeria with the two main rebel
groups, the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) and
Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
" FALSE
HOPE"
"
The problem is there seems to be false hope that
a solution will come from outside or will be
imposed by the U.N. or NATO and so on," said
Akol. "As long as there is war, unfortunately
people will have to die, and the U.N. will not
stop it."
He said the government would welcome the
U.N. troops after a peace deal was reached
in April,
which he said was a "very realistic" time
frame.
Separately, Human Rights Watch urged the
U.N. Security Council to break down Sudanese
opposition
to a U.N. force through targeted sanctions
on its leaders, so it can have peacekeepers
in place
by the time the AU mandate runs out.
"
The Sudanese government is blocking a U.N. force
because it fears a larger, better-equipped force
might hinder its abusive agenda in Darfur," Peter
Takirambudde, Africa director at the New York-based
watchdog, wrote in a letter to the council.
IGC said since the strategy of relying
on the AU mission in Sudan (AMIS) to
police Darfur "is
at a dead end" and the U.N. must immediately
bring in 5,000 soldiers.
"
AMIS credibility is at an all-time low, with
the ceasefire it could never monitor properly
in tatters. In the face of this, the international
community is backing away from meaningful action," added
the report by ICG researcher David Mozersky.
The first troops should be led by France,
which has experience in the area, and
the council
should follow up by authorizing a 15,000-strong
force,
ICG said.
"
The international record on Darfur, despite the
provision of some life-saving humanitarian aid,
has been dismal".
ICG said Chadian rebels near the
border in the west of Darfur looked
poised
to invade
their
country. "The escalating proxy war between
Sudan and Chad threatens to produce a new humanitarian
catastrophe on both sides of the border," it
said.
"
If the battleground of Darfur and the chaos there
is extended to the west and beyond (into Chad),
this will further complicate efforts to improve
the security situation," Mozersky told Reuters.
The report said principal blame
for the Darfur tragedy lay with
the Khartoum
government for making "little effort" to stabilize
the area and for backing the Chadian rebels.
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| Says
Morrisey: |
| The Smiths
turned down $5 million reunion offer |
agencies
Pioneering
U.K. modern rock band the Smiths turned down
a $5 million offer to reunite at the upcoming
Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival in
southern California, former frontman Morrissey
said Thursday.
His revelation, during a public interview at
the South By Southwest Music & Media
Conference in Austin, triggered gasps from the audience. When journalist David
Fricke asked if he had considered it, Morrissey replied, "No, because money
doesn't come into it," a response that drew applause from the crowd.
Of the critically adored act, which broke up
in the late 1980s, Morrissey said, "It
was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended.
I wanted to continue. (Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr) wanted to end it. And that
was that."
Discussing his forthcoming album, "Ringleader of the Tormentors," due
April 4 via Attack/Sanctuary, the notoriously gloomy singer/songwriter admitted
that he's writing songs from a good place these days.
"I'm just seeing lots of joyful things in life, which I didn't in the past," he
said, adding slyly, "Which maybe you noticed.
"Politically the world is ridiculous," he said. "But there's still
a lot of beautiful things ... Nature saves us, nature calms us down."
Morrissey will first support the album with
a European tour that includes a six-week
run of sold-out shows in the United Kingdom.
A North American
leg
is also expected.
Coachella, which takes place April 29-30 about
120 miles east of Los Angeles, will feature
such acts as Depeche Mode, Tool and Madonna.
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