Sudan Agrees to Pullout of Forces in Darfur, Blair Says
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Sudan had agreed to a joint withdrawal of government and rebel forces in Darfur and would accept a big increase in international cease-fire monitors.
“We need several thousand people there in order to monitor any cease-fire,” Blair told reporters at the British ambassador’s residence in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
After talks with President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, Blair said that Sudan also committed to identifying the location of its troops and weapons in the vast western region of Darfur.
In addition, the Sudanese government agreed to work toward comprehensive peace agreements with rebels in Darfur and in the southern region by the end of the year, Blair said.
More than 50,000 people are believed to have been killed in Darfur, and an additional 1.4 million have been driven from their homes since February 2003.
The conflict, which began as a clash between black farmers and Arab nomads, has grown into a counterinsurgency in which pro-government Arab militias have raped and killed people and burned villages.
The government denies allegations that it supports the Arab militias.
Blair later flew to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, where he was met at the airport by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
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