Monday, June 25, 2007

World powers pledge to step up Darfur efforts

France, the United States, China and some 15 other nations agreed on Monday to redouble efforts to end bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region by supporting a new peace force and negotiations on a settlement.

"The international community simply cannot continue to sit by," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of the one-day conference in the French capital aimed at shoring up peace moves in Darfur.
"We really must redouble our efforts," she said.
The conference came after Sudan earlier this month bowed to months of pressure and agreed to a new peace force under the United Nations and the African Union.

Rice warned that the major powers would be vigilant to ensure that President Omar el-Beshir makes good on the pledge to allow the deployment of the 20,000-strong hybrid force.

"Those who have been around this crisis for a while are going to work very hard to safeguard against backtracking. We have had circumstances in which we have had agreements before and those agreements have not gone forward," she said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also signalled that the patience of the international community over Darfur was wearing thin.

"The international community has been waiting for too long and the people of Darfur suffering for too long," said the UN chief. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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