A MODEL:

African Union Troops Due in Darfur Sunday (VOA News, 16 Oct 2004)

The African Union says a battalion of peacekeeping troops will arrive in Darfur by Sunday, the first unit of a 4,500-strong force ordered to end continuing violence and restore a cease-fire in Sudan's troubled western region.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chairman of the African Union, says troops from Rwanda will be the first to arrive in Darfur. Another battalion of nearly 800 Nigerian troops will join them within two weeks, and plans call for the full peacekeeping force of 4,500 troops to be deployed by the end of November.

Multinational talks about the situation in Darfur were scheduled to resume in Nigeria during the coming week, but President Obasanjo told diplomats in Abuja Friday that the meetings are being moved to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Separate peace talks in Nairobi between Sudanese rebels and officials from Khartoum have adjourned for Ramadan, a month of prayers and fasting for most Muslims.

Sudanese Peace Talks Adjourn for Ramadan (Cathy Majtenyi, 16 Oct 2004, VOA News)

Talks between the Sudanese government and the country's main rebel group in the south have adjourned for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and are expected to reconvene in about a month's time.

In the two weeks they have been negotiating in a Nairobi hotel, the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army, or SPLA, have been tackling the thorny issue of setting up permanent cease-fire arrangements.

On October 7, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and SPLA chairman John Garang opened the latest round of talks aimed at securing a peace deal to end 21 years of war.

The Kenyan mediator of the talks, retired General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, said the negotiations during these past couple of weeks have been fruitful.

Hard to think of a human rights crisis we've ever handled better or more expediently.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 16, 2004 9:53 AM