The Sudanese government reiterated on Tuesday its commitment to a ceasefire in Darfur, calling on the international society to exert more pressure on the rebels in the conflict-torn region.
Mutrif Siddiq, under-secretary of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the promise after meeting with visiting UN Special Envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson, who arrived here Monday from a meeting of the Darfur rebel groups in Arusha, Tanzania.
Siddiq told the press that his government would continue to be committed to the cessation of hostilities in Darfur as long as the other parties of the conflict were committed.
The Sudanese official, meanwhile, accused a Darfur rebel faction, without mentioning the name, of making use of the government's commitment to the cessation of hostilities to attack Adilla town in Darfur last week and killed and injured civilians.
"The government keeps its right to response in case of lack of commitment by the other parties," he warned.
Siddiq urged the international community to send messages to the rebel movements to put down their arms and focus on the negotiations.
Cautiously welcoming the outcome of the Arusha meeting, the Sudanese official described it as "acceptable."
Eliasson, on his part, told reporters that Khartoum was not enthusiastic about some elements of a joint platform presented by the Darfur rebels in the Arusha meeting.
"Not all of the points of course are met with great enthusiasm, " Eliasson said, adding that "the Sudanese government does not want to have a re-negotiation of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). "
He said that he and his African Union counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim would continue the discussion on this matter with both the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebel factions which had not signed the DPA.
At the end of their four-day meeting in Arusha, the Darfur rebel groups announced that they had worked out a common platform on power sharing, wealth sharing, security arrangements and humanitarian issues for the final negotiations.
They also reiterated their "readiness to respect a complete cessation of hostilities provided that all other parties make similar commitments."
Source: Xinhua
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