Beginning his three-day trip to Sudan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had come to see conflict-torn Darfur first-hand and "lock in progress" made to end strife in the region.
"I want to see for myself the plight of those we seek to help, and the conditions under which our peacekeepers in Darfur will operate," Mr. Ban told a UN Association gathering in Khartoum on 3 September.
|
He had also come to push peace among the parties so that a full-fledged conference could be held as soon as possible. "My goal is to lock in progress we have made so far. To build on it so that this terrible trauma may one day end," he said.
Mr. Ban said he would meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, First Vice-President Salva Kiir and other senior leaders, stressing the need to forge ahead with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south. "As you well know, this remains an essential - and rather fragile - cornerstone of peace across the whole of Sudan, well beyond Darfur."
Another vital means of resolving the Darfur conflict was development, Mr. Ban said, emphasizing the need for roads, communications, health care, education and sanitation. "The international community needs to help organize these efforts, working with the Government of Sudan as well as the host of international aid agencies and NGOs working so heroically on the ground in very difficult circumstances."
Progress must also be made in human rights, he said. ""We have only to look around us to see how far Sudan has to go in upholding human rights and protecting people from suffering." Adding the justice was vital in building peace, he said a legacy of past crimes and impunity could only erode peace.
In addition, root causes of the conflict must be tackled, such as competition for water in the region. "You all know that the conflict in Darfur began, long ago, in part because of drought. When the rains failed, farmers and herders fell into competition for an increasingly scare resource."
As part of the solution, Mr. Ban said, the government an international community must ensure that people of Darfur have access to vital natural resources - water being chief among them. "The UN stands ready to assist in this effort," he said.
|
About UNMIS