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Sudan
can�t agree on peace, risks UN sanction
Chris
Agbambu, Deputy Bureau Chief, �Abuja
and Onyekachi Eze
Senior Reporter, Abuja
Sudan
risks United Nations (UN) sanctions if by next Monday the government in that
country does not find a lasting peace formula to crisis-ridden western region
of Darfur.
Chances
are that the UN will apply the big stick because the ongoing peace talks in Abuja,
flopped as the two sides refused to agree on an acceptable modality to study
the report of the UN on humanitarian situation in Darfur region.
The
country had closed its embassy in Washington D.C., the United States on
Wednesday for failure to secure a bank that would handle its financial
transactions.
But
Nigeria is not letting things to deteriorate in Dafur. It sent on Wednesday,
a company of troops numbering about 155 to Dafur as part of the protective
force in that region.
The troops
that are part of the first batch to join other African troops from Rwanda
will be escorted by senior military officers from the directorate of
peacekeeping in both defence and army headquarters.
Addressing
the troops at Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General
Martin Luther Agwai, charged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria and carry
out their assignment with utmost dedication and loyalty and not to be
partisan.
NEPA did
not help matters. As is usual of it, it disrupted the peace talk for about
five hours following a power outage at the venue of the meeting. The day�s
session that was billed to commence by 10 a.m. was held up till 3p.m to
enable NEPA restore power to the venue.
The fourth
day of the talks failed to reach a consensus on the setting up of a committee
to study the UN report. Speaking at the end of the meeting, spokesperson of
the Sudanese government, Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim told journalists that a
committee would be set up to study the report. The leader of the JEM, Ahmed
Mohammed Tugod, denied this
.Ibrahim
said before the parties went on a forced break that the negotiating team was
no longer working towards UN deadline.
The
closure of the country�s embassy in Washington is the high point of daily
demonstrations for several weeks in protest of Sudan's treatment of people in
the western Darfur region.
The
closure was necessitated by the �difficulties it encountered" in
transferring of money from Khartoum bank to the embassy as the bank that had
handled the country�s embassy's account for more than 30 years had closed
Sudan's account, along with other embassy accounts since July this year.
The
Sudanese foreign ministry blamed the problem on the failure of the State
Department �to convince that bank or find another bank�.
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