Africans Warn of Escalation in Darfur

The African Union on Friday gave the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur 24 hours to pull their forces back after a military buildup in the western region over the last two weeks.

The United States, Britain and the United Nations weighed in with warnings to both sides as the AU said that huge quantities of weapons had poured into Darfur and that the government was poised for a major offensive.

The AU, which is brokering peace talks to end a conflict that has displaced 2 million people and killed tens of thousands, said it would report any further cease-fire violations to the U.N. Security Council for action.

The AU commander in Darfur, Nigerian Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo, said his efforts to mediate between government troops and rebels had yielded minimal results. The region was now a “time bomb that could explode at any moment,” he added.

Okonkwo said an “astronomical” amount of arms and ammunition has been brought into Darfur. The issue “is no longer whether there will be fighting or not, but when fighting will start.”

A Sudanese brigade, which normally numbers 600 to 700 troops, advanced toward Labado in southern Darfur on Thursday, backed by about 200 militiamen, said Okonkwo, who leads 834 AU cease-fire monitors in Darfur. “From a military point of view, this indicates an offensive, which if launched would be prejudicial to the peace process.”

Okonkwo’s assessment was delivered to government and rebel representatives in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, where peace talks between the two sides have been taking place. The negotiations were suspended Monday by the rebels, who accused the government of launching an offensive.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that if Okonkwo’s view was correct, “it is a major violation of the cease-fire.”

“I hope the government will refrain from any action of that kind,” Annan said during a news conference in Brussels.