SUDAN: Rebels in west Sudan are obstructing efforts to stop fighting in the expectation that the plight of thousands of refugees will force the international community to intervene, observers said yesterday.
Attempts to reach a political solution in Sudan's arid western Darfur region stumbled last week when the two rebel groups refused to take part in talks after the government turned down six preconditions.
A key rebel demand is the disarmament of Arab militia, known as Janjaweed. The rebels accuse the Janjaweed of killing and raping villagers and then looting and razing their homes. The rebels say the government armed the mounted Arab militia, though Khartoum calls them outlaws.
Khartoum has said it is improving security and aid distribution, as it comes under increased international pressure to end fighting the UN says triggered the world's worst current humanitarian crisis and forced 1.2 million people out of their homes.
As aid agencies in neighbouring eastern Chad braced for an influx of 200,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in western Sudan, Pope John Paul urged the international community to help put a stop to the bloody conflict there and in Uganda.
Germany and the US agreed to keep up pressure on Sudan on the eve of a meeting where European ministers will discuss the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
They agreed "sanctions will be unavoidable if the government does not meet its self-set commitments in Darfur," the German Foreign Ministry said.
Aid workers who had pulled out of two refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border because of violence returned at the weekend to resume relief operations. The violence flared over schemes to plant trees at the camps, with refugees fearing this meant the agencies planned to keep them in Chad rather than let them return home.